Charming Geeks and Mean Girls
by CelticMagic
Summary: Things change, people grow apart. That's how all of the Adventure kids split up into different cliques, so it's not easy when Mimi and TK reluctantly seek each other for help. If TK can help Mimi become more popular by letting her star in his video project, she might help him score the girl of his dreams. Contains some Mimato and Takari elements.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

"Sure, I like a little challenge as in keyword: little. Did I really know what I was getting into? I thought I did. Something that seemed so simple ended up being a lot more complicated than I could ever imagine, but I don't regret it. Well, maybe there were one or two minor things I really regret...but that's all in the past now, right?" TK spoke into his camcorder.

"Stop talking to yourself and shut that camera off! You're gonna be late for school, dammit!"

"Okay Mom!" TK yelled. He shut his camcorder off and carefully put it inside his camera bag.

* * *

"Hey, are you planning to run for prom princess?" a girl walked up to Mimi with a clipboard.

"Of course, silly! Sign me up!" Mimi snatched the clipboard and and wrote her name in obnoxiously huge letters so that it took up the entire page.

"Thanks...," the girl took her clipboard back and left.

"Oh my gosh! You're running for prom princess! I'm so excited for you!" her friend Meg squealed. Meg was an adorable girl with short, wavy blonde hair and honey-colored eyes.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're going to win," Miki said. Miki was the polar opposite of Meg. Meg was optimistic and friendly, but Miki was a lot more cynical and blunt than her. Not only did they act opposite of each other, they also looked opposite. While Meg was universally considered cute, Miki was dripping with sex appeal. Miki had narrow violet eyes that made her look mysterious, and long, straight black hair that seemed to be really popular with the boys. Mimi was so lucky to have such attractive girls as her friends. After all, birds of a feather flock together.

"Come on! I totally have it in the bag! I'm pretty, I have designer clothes, I have gorgeous best friends-which is you by the way, I have a hot boyfriend, and I'm totally rich! I'm obviously going to win!" Mimi scoffed.

"Yeah, but Natalie Kelly's going to be some tough competition," Miki tilted her chin toward a pretty blonde girl. The girl from earlier handed her the clipboard to sign.

"Whatever, I'm still much better than she is! Everybody loves me!" Mimi said.

"But she's cheerleading captain. That totally earns her popularity points," Meg said.

"I don't know how you're going to top that," Miki said.

"I could have been a cheerleader if I wanted to! I just didn't feel like being one, they're just so passé, total überholt," Mimi crossed her arms.

* * *

_"We're holding the cheerleading tryouts here in five minutes. I suggest you take this time to warm up," Natalie said. Natalie was a petite girl with dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and cute freckles across her face._

_"This is going to be so easy," Mimi smirked at the other pathetic girls. There was no way these girls would ever make the team; they just weren't on the same level as she was._

_"Alright, I'm back! Here, I need you girls to pin these numbers on your shirts," Natalie handed buttons out to each girl._

_"Um, I can't put this on! I'll poke holes in my shirt!" Mimi grimaced at the button._

_"If you don't have your number on, then you can't audition," Natalie sternly said._

_"But this is Diane Von Furstenburg! I'll ruin my shirt!" Mimi pulled at her yoga top._

_"Oh, why didn't you say so?" Natalie softened her gaze._

_"I knew you'd understand," Mimi smiled._

_"I don't care! Put the number on or leave! No exceptions!" Natalie growled._

_"Fine," Mimi pouted._

_"Okay, now that everyone has their numbers on, I'm gonna need you to wait in the hallway. Stacey's going to draw random numbers out of a hat, and when she announces your number, you can come inside. You girls better impress me!" Natalie said. "Now shoo!"_

_"Hey," Kari waved at Mimi._

_"Hi," Mimi coldly said._

_"How are you doing? I haven't talked to you in a while," Kari nervously wrung her hands._

_"I'm doing fine," Mimi said in a crisp tone._

_"Tryouts sound like they're going to be tough, huh?" Kari continued to try striking up competition with her._

_"Only for losers," Mimi looked at her fingernails._

_"Um...okay. Well, good luck," Kari raised her eyebrows and sat closer to the door._

_"Number 5, you're up!" a cheerleader announced._

_"Oh, that's me!" Mimi sprung up and dashed inside the gym._

_"Number 5...where's your button?" Natalie looked annoyed._

_"I decided to pin it on my Juicy shorts. See?" Mimi lifted her shirt up a bit to reveal her button._

_"I didn't ask you to pin it on your butt. On your shirt, now!" Natalie commanded._

_"What does it matter anyways? You already know I'm number five!"_

_"That's not the point. All of the other girls pinned their buttons on their shirts. What makes you think that you have special privileges over them?"_

_"But it's DVF...," Mimi whined._

_"So what? Everyone knows that in a couple of weeks, you're gonna toss it anyways because it was soooo two seconds ago," Natalie rolled her eyes. "Besides, I think you can afford to ruin one shirt. God knows you buy new stuff every day."_

_"Fine...," Mimi whined._

_"Good. Now show me what you got," Natalie said._

_"We're the school that can't be beat, our competition can't take the heat-"_

_"Next!" Natalie yelled._

_"But-" Mimi's jaw dropped._

_"What part of 'next' don't you understand?! Get off the court and wait in the hallway along with the other girls!" Natalie yelled._

_"..." Mimi reluctantly trudged her way out of the gym floor. She sat in the hallway far from the other girls. She watched as the girls exited the gym, with nervous looks on their faces. After waiting for thirty minutes, Natalie called all of the girls back into the gym._

_"Okay, after careful deliberation, we've decided that numbers 9, 4, 1, 3, 7, 6, 2, 10, 8...," Natalie paused for dramatic effect. All of the girls except Mimi held their breaths in. Mimi just stood there with crossed arms and a confident smile on her face._

_"You've made the team! I'm sorry, but the rest of you just didn't cut it," Natalie shrugged._

_"What do you mean the rest? I'm the only one who didn't get in!" Mimi gasped._

_"You just don't have what it takes to be a cheerleader," Natalie began to pack up stuff._

_"Which is what?" Mimi made a face._

_"Sportsmanship. How do you expect me to let you in when you don't follow directions or listen to anyone? There's no Mimi in team! I'm the captain around here, and in my team, nobody gets special treatment," Natalie said._

_"Whatever! I didn't even want to be on the squad anyways," Mimi stuck her nose up in the air._

_"Then why did you audition?" Natalie smirked._

_"Everyone knows that you're just jealous of me because I'm prettier, richer, and more popular than you," Mimi flipped her hair in Natalie's face and stomped out of the gym._

* * *

"I love you, baby," Matt kissed Mimi on the top of her head.

"And I love you," Mimi snuggled closer to Matt.

"Hey, have you guys seen my-"

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked.

"I didn't want to be in my apartment alone," TK said.

"I did. You're seriously killing the mood. Don't you have any friends to hang out with?" Mimi glared at TK.

"No," TK said.

"If only you were as popular as Matt, you'd actually have friends to hang out with, and me and your brother can finally have some alone time," Mimi smirked.

"Hey, that's my brother you're talking to!" Matt lifted his arm away from Mimi.

"Oh, I'm sorry...," Mimi insincerely said.

"You should be," Matt curtly said.

"Thanks, Matt," TK said.

"You seriously overstepped the boundaries. Only I'm allowed to talk to him that way," Matt said.

"Glad you have my back," TK sighed. "I'm leaving. Tell Dad I went home."

"Alright, just make sure to lock the door on your way out," Matt shooed TK away.

"Bye," TK rolled his eyes and walked out of the apartment.

He couldn't stand those two together. Matt was a pretty cool guy, when he wasn't around Mimi. Yeah, TK and Mimi used to be friends, but when junior high came around, Mimi ditched her friends and started hanging out with the popular crowd. After Mimi departed from the gang, everyone else went their separate ways too.

Tai and Davis were well-liked in the school for their athletic abilities. Sora was also good at sports, and she befriended other girls who were enthusiastic about sports just as much as she was, including the cheerleading squad. Yolei, Ken, and Izzy created their own niche with other computer geeks, as Kari effortlessly floated through all of the social classes. She was the girl next door; she was on the cheerleading squad, she was kind to everyone, and she was one of the prettiest girls in the school. Although most kids at the school liked her, she wasn't popular. That only got TK to conclude that in order to be popular, you had to be a huge jerk. After all, look at Mimi. She had to be one of the biggest bitches in the school, and she also happened to be one of the most popular girls in school. On the other hand, Matt was popular for different reasons. Not only was he attractive, he was in a rock band, and he was best friends with Tai. Him and Tai were so close, sometimes Mimi would get paranoid and think that Matt was cheating on her with Tai.

TK wasn't Olympic athletic, or Mensa smart, he didn't have his own rock band, and he sure as hell wasn't suave enough to be on the cover of GQ, so TK spent most of his time by himself. The filmmaking club was the closest thing he had to as friends, but they didn't necessarily count. The filmmaking club basically consisted of other friendless losers who could barely tolerate each other, let alone themselves. Even the Nerd Herd (aka Computer Club dorks) had more friends than TK did. TK couldn't wait to get out of school, so he was desperate graduate as soon as possible. He was only a sophomore, but he was already taking junior and senior classes. Most days, he couldn't help but to blame Mimi for breaking up the whole gang. They would have still been together if she wasn't so hung up on being popular.

"Another day, another battle...," TK sighed. He opened the door to his apartment and dropped his bag down on the couch. Since his mom was always at work, TK learned how to make his own food. He always sure he made enough for leftovers, so that his mom would be able to eat them for lunch. But today, he was too tired to cook. He scrounged around for his wallet and opened it to see that he had four dollars in it. "That's barely enough for a Happy Meal...," TK groaned. Since Friday was a couple of days away, TK had no choice but to make do with what was already in the fridge.

* * *

"Greta, I'm home!" Mimi yelled. "Greta? Where are you?!" she stormed throughout her entire apartment, but her maid was nowhere to be found. "Now who's going to make my dinner?" Mimi whined. She walked over to the kitchen to find a Tupperware box sitting on the counter. A pink sticky note was attached to the container.

"_Your father gave me the night off, but I made you some dinner before I left. Just put in the microwave for 2 minutes and it should be ready to go. Ich liebe dich, mein Apfelstrudel,_" Mimi read. "I don't even know how to use the microwave...," Mimi whined. It wasn't fair. Mimi shouldn't have to cook her own food; that's what Greta was for. How can Greta just leave her beloved Apfelstrudel to fend for herself? Obviously, if Greta did love Mimi, she would have stayed for the evening, like she was supposed to. Mimi shuffled her way to the microwave to find another sticky on the microwave door. "_Instructions: Press big rectangle button on the bottom of the door, place container inside the middle of the microwave, then gently close the door. Press the number 200 and press the green start button. When the microwave makes a ding sound, press the big rectangle button again and take your food out. Don't forget to close the door after you take out your food and be careful. The Tupperware may be hot_." Mimi instantly felt bad for thinking badly about Greta. Even when she wasn't around, she was still there for Mimi.

"Hey, princess! How was school?" her dad entered the apartment.

"It was okay, I guess...Matt's dopey little brother kept getting in my way though, but I guess that's usual," Mimi huffed.

"Didn't you all go to summer camp together?" Mr. Tachikawa gave his daughter a puzzled look.

"What's your point?" Mimi asked.

"I thought all of you camp kids were buddies. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of your camp friends in a long time, except for Matt," Mr. Tachikawa noted.

"Things change, people grow apart," Mimi nonchalantly shrugged. "Daddy? Where's Greta?"

"I let her have the night off, since I got out of work early. Now we can spend daddy and daughter time together. What do you want to do?" Mr. Tachikawa asked.

"I'm always in the mood for shopping!" Mimi smiled.

"I knew you would say that," Mr. Tachikawa chuckled.

* * *

"How do I look?" Mimi twirled around. Mimi felt so confident in her new outfit. It took her a while to find it, since she basically already had all of the fashionable clothes that was in the mall. Mimi hated when other people criticized her for being a mall brat, but they just didn't understand. Shopping was just as challenging as physics!

"Wow, cute!" Meg squealed.

"Super cute," Miki added.

"You girls are so right! I look amazing-well, I always look amazing," Mimi grinned.

"Mimi, watch-"

*_crash_*

"Ahhhh! My clothes!" Mimi shrieked.

"I'm so sorry," TK stuttered.

"Look at me! I look like the Red Lobster right now!" Mimi wiped off some of the clam chowder that fell on her.

"Whoa, step back," Miki said. She and Meg distanced themselves from Mimi, so they wouldn't get food on them.

"Look, I'm sorry!" TK squeaked. He could barely talk, somewhat because he was scared of Mimi, but mostly because he tried to hold his laughter in.

"You should watch out where you're going, dweeb!" Mimi yelled.

"_You_ should have watched where you were going! This is all your fault too, you know. If _you_ were paying attention, then you wouldn't have bumped into me!" TK firmly said.

"Are you seriously blaming me for this? It's all your fault that I'm covered in this...yucky stuff!"

"And it's all your fault that I don't have lunch now," TK said.

"You want lunch? Here!" Mimi flung some of the clam chowder at TK's face. "I can't believe you and Matt are related! It's not fair that cool people like me have to live in the same planet with people like you! Girls! I have to go home! I don't think I can make it through the whole day in this condition! I'm like a wounded soldier!"

"Unbelievable...," TK rolled his eyes as he watched the girls march out of the cafeteria.

"Are you okay?" Zoe gently placed her hand on TK's arm.

"I'm fine," TK huffed.

"Here," she handed him a pile of napkins.

"Thanks, Zee," he said as he began to wipe himself clean.

"What happened?" JP asked.

"The usual," TK sighed.

"You usually get food all over yourself?" Kouichi gave TK a puzzled look.

"No, I mean I got into another dispute with Mimi," TK shook his head.

"I'm sorry," Zoe said.

"Yeah, must suck to have your brother date a bitch," Koji said.

"It does, but what can I do about it?" TK tapped his spoon against his empty tray.

"Change of subject! JP, why aren't you wearing a hat? Everyone's supposed to wear a hat! It's a club rule!" Takuya slammed his hands on top of the table.

"But Koji's not wearing a hat either!" JP protested.

"But a hat is headwear, and headwear is anything that covers the top of your head, and since a hat covers the head, just like bandana does, technically I am wearing a hat," Koji smirked.

"You should be a lawyer...," TK rolled his eyes.

"But I don't have a normal hat like you guys! Do you expect me to wear this?" JP pulled out a tall red-and-white striped hat out of his bag. "I'm already a loser, and dressing like the Cat in the Hat is not going to help my situation."

"Hmm...you know how I feel about that. I am in charge of the filmmaking club," Takuya narrowed his eyes.

"No you're not. I am," Zoe said.

"Then what's your opinion on this whole hat dilemma?" Takuya crossed his arms.

"It sounds like a stupid rule, but I think it would be nice if we all followed it. It's almost like a secret dress code, and that sounds cool, right?" Zoe said.

"Yeah. And that's why you sit with the cool kids," Koji sarcastically said.

"You're...you're so-ugh!" Zoe tugged her hat down to cover her face.

"I like that look on you, makes you look more attractive," Koji snickered.

"I can't stand you!" Zoe fumed.

"Likewise," Koji shrugged.

*_RIIIIIING_*

"Whaddya know? Lunchtime is over," Kouichi awkwardly said.

"Thank god," JP exhaled in relief.

"You better have a hat by tomorrow! Otherwise you can't sit with us!" Zoe snapped.

"Okay, okay! I'll get a hat! I don't want to be rejected from another lunch table," JP said.

"TK, I need to talk to you," Zoe said.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I just found out about this filming contest. You can make up a film about anything you want, and they'll show the top ten submissions at a film festival. The audience gets to vote on their favorite video, and the most popular one will win $1,000. I don't know, I just thought you might be interested in it. I would enter the contest, but I'm only good at editing videos, not creating them. If you want, you can talk to Mr. Mueller about all of the details," Zoe handed TK a booklet.

"Uh, thanks. I could really use the money," TK said.

"No problem. I didn't tell the rest of the guys about this. They don't care about filmmaking; they just want to look like they have friends," Zoe said.

"Don't we all? Isn't that why we sit together at lunch?" TK asked.

"No! At least that's not why I do it. How about you?" Zoe looked at TK.

"I have to go to class," TK walked in the opposite direction.

* * *

"Oh, so you're interested in joining the competition?" Mr. Mueller grinned.

"Yeah. Sounds like it would be fun," TK shrugged.

"Well, what is your video going to be about?" Mr. Mueller asked.

"I'm not sure yet," TK said.

"You better come up with an idea by Friday because the film committee needs to approve your topic," Mr. Mueller said.

"You know what? I think I have my topic!" TK beamed.

"What is it?" Mr. Mueller asked.

"I'm going to do an exposé on popularity," TK said.

"Oooh, I likey! Tell me more," Mr. Mueller rubbed his hands together.

"The popular crowd will be the subjects of my film. I'll interview them and record their everyday routines to expose them for the corrupt jerkwads they are," TK said.

"Nice, nice! I like it! The committee will definitely like this!" Mr. Mueller exclaimed. "Now, how exactly are you going to follow through with your idea?"

"Oh...I didn't think of that yet. I'll come up with something soon!" TK said.

"Alright sonny boy! As long as you manage to submit your video before the deadline, it doesn't matter. You have a lot of potential, kid. This film has a lot of potential. I'm rooting for you, kid. Good luck," Mr. Mueller said.

"Thanks," TK said. He was going to need all the luck he can get.

* * *

**Author's Note: This story was taken down a couple of days ago, because someone complained to admin about it...thanks to them, I had to shut off anonymous reviews (which totally sucks for us members who are too lazy to login). You can blame the psychopath (Mimato) fans for that. That being said, I don't hate Mimato fans; I just hate fans in general who act like the shipping wars as a Crusade mission. Everyone's free to like what they like, but don't ruin stuff for everyone else, okay?**

**********Furthermore, this**** story's more based on FRIENDSHIP. Yeah, I also categorized the story into the romance genre, but I'm not going to write about Mimato's love life that much because hell, Matt already got the girl, what else can I elaborate on? ****I don't mean to offend/flame certain couplings, so I apologize if you see it that way.**

**By the way, if you noticed that the Frontier kids were the "loser" group, I just wanted to let you know that I have nothing against the Frontier crew. Actually, Digimon Frontier happens to be my favorite season. Another thing (because I'm pretty sure someone's going to comment), Mimi is not OOC. If anything, I'm basing her by her Adventure 01 (dub version) personality...I believe that's called canon. **

**Now that I cleared the air, feel free to read and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Ready, Set, Action!**

"I don't know why you picked me. I'm just as boring as it gets," Matt ate some cereal.

"Yeah, but you're popular," TK filmed Matt eat his cereal.

"Popularity is overrated," Matt shrugged.

"Yeah, easy for you to say," TK rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious. Look, you're only as popular as you want yourself to be," Matt said.

"What do you mean by that?" TK asked.

"You could be popular if you want to, and I'm not just talking about you. This applies to anyone. All you have to do is make the right friends, wear the right clothes, and act the right way, and then people will like you better, right?

"Yeah," TK nodded.

"Wrong! Is that what you _really_ want? Don't you want to be around people who like you for who you are, or do you want to waste your effort on people who couldn't care less about you as long as you look the part?"

"I guess I'd want to be around people who like me," TK sheepishly said.

"One of the shitty things about popularity is that it's hard to tell who your real friends are. If you show up to school wearing Toms, how many of your 'friends' would actually still want to talk to you?" Matt said.

"I wear Toms...," TK looked down at his feet.

"It was just an example. Look, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether you're popular; it's all about whether people respect and genuinely you, and that's a lot more important than trying to fit in with the cool kids," Matt said.

"See? This is why I want you in my documentary! You really say a lot of wise things," TK nudged his brother.

"Our parents are always saying that I'm a wise guy," Matt winked.

_*ding dong*_

"Hey Teeks, can you get the door? I wanna finish this before it gets soggy," Matt held up his cereal bowl.

"No problem," TK opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi made a face at TK.

"Hello to you to, Mimi," TK sighed.

"Be nice. I'm just helping him out with a video project," Matt said.

"One of your little film dork things?" Mimi wriggled her nose in disgust.

"Hey! I'm going to be in his film, so it's gonna be awesomely wild. If his video happens to be one of the favorite picks, they're gonna show it at the film festival for the whole school to watch. Hello, Hollywood," Matt put on his sunglasses.

"You don't say...," Mimi pursed her lips.

"You know what? In fact, you should have Mimi in your movie. She sure is a hell of a lot more interesting than me," Matt said.

"I don't know if she'd be up for that...," TK nervously looked at Mimi.

"I'll have to think about it," Mimi tapped her chin.

"Okay. I'm not rushing you to make a decision, so take your time. Take all the time you need," TK said. Honestly, he didn't care if Mimi wanted to be in his movie. If she decided to, then TK would have an "interesting" subject for his movie, but if she said no, then that saves TK with having to spend more time with her. Either way, TK would benefit.

"Mattykins...," Mimi whined. "Let's go out for dinner."

"But I just ate some cereal, see?" Matt held up his empty bowl.

"Ugh, seriously?" Mimi shook her head.

"What? I have band practice in a half-hour," Matt said.

"Yeah, and we're supposed to be going on a date tonight," Mimi crossed her arms.

"No, we're going out Wednesday night," Matt said.

"I know this isn't any of my business, but today is Wednesday," TK cut in.

"Oh-oh my god, Mimi!" Matt stuttered.

"You always do this to me," Mimi whimpered.

"I'm so sorry! I-I-I don't know what to do! I'm so sorry!" Matt frantically ran his fingers through his hair. "Can we reschedule? This band practice is really important to us."

"Yeah, okay. I should be used to it already, right?" Mimi sniffled.

"I'm really sorry, babe. I'll make it up to you, I swear," Matt kissed Mimi on the top of her head.

"I have to get to work...," TK tiptoed away from the couple.

"Okay. Tell Mom I said hi," Matt said.

"Will do. Adieu," TK walked out of the door.

* * *

"I'm so glad you guys were free tonight. I'm like having the worst day ever. Matt canceled on me again...," Mimi slouched.

"I had to cancel my orthodontist appointment, but if it's to make you feel better...," Meg rubbed Mimi's shoulder.

"Thanks! You girls are the best," Mimi sniffled.

"So, which store should we hit up first?" Miki said.

"Albatross and Finch?" Meg perked up.

"As if! Their stuff is so stale," Mimi pretended to stick a finger down her throat.

"How about Eternal 21?" Miki suggested.

"Puh-lease. Even my dolls' clothes were made of less plastic than those cheapo, knockoff clothes," Mimi shook her head.

"Canadian Eagle?" Meg asked.

"Ew," Mimi frowned.

"Club Banana?" Miki said.

"Nein," Mimi shook her head.

"Khaki Barn?" Meg shrugged.

"More like Tacky Barn," Mimi gave her a thumbs down.

"Then where do you want to go?" Miki stood akimbo.

"How about Boredstrom?" Mimi suggested.

"I can't afford anything from there, but I guess it doesn't hurt to window shop, right Miki?" Meg looked to her friend.

"Shopping hurts in general," Miki said.

"Let's get going girl-oh no!" Mimi flung her hands up in the air. Her bracelet snapped off her wrist and fell into the huge fountain at the middle of the mall. "My charm bracelet!"

"Don't worry. You can always buy a new one. That's what you usually do," Miki said.

"You don't understand! That charm bracelet's really special to me!" Mimi frantically wrapped her fingers around her wrist.

"Yeah, and when next month comes, you'll be too busy liking a new bracelet, that you won't even remember that old one," Meg tried to console Mimi.

"But it's irreplaceable!" Mimi started to cry.

"That's the same thing you said about that Dolce bag, and the Versace glasses, and that limited-edition Hermes scarf," Miki listed.

"It's not the same thing!" Mimi shrieked. "Waahhhh!"

"Mimi, you're causing a scene!" Meg bit her lip.

"I don't care!" Mimi said and went back to throwing a tantrum.

"Stop it! Let's just go home," Miki said through her teeth.

"No! Someone needs to get my bracelet out of that fountain!" Mimi yelled.

"Why don't you do it?" Miki huffed.

"I don't want to get my clothes wet! Do you know what water does to silk?" Mimi shrieked.

"The only silk I have is the soy milk in the fridge, and I can barely afford that," Meg frowned.

"Ugh! You guys are so stupid!" Mimi screamed.

"Oh really? I guess I'm soooo stupid that I 'accidentally' ditched you at the mall," Miki stomped away.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. Miki's my ride home and I don't want to cry in front of you...so, see you tomorrow!" Meg squeaked and chased after Miki.

"You guys are lousy friends!" Mimi yelled. "Someone help me! Please?!"

* * *

"So...we have a break together. Wanna go to Stick It?" Zoe tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I'll go but I'm not ordering anything. I brought food from home," TK held up his lunch bag.

"Oh, I'm so silly! Of course you brought food-I mean, what else could be in that paper bag? I'm such an idiot, I'm sorry," Zoe blushed.

"That's okay," TK said. Even though he liked Zoe best out of the filmmaking club, TK found her to be too talkative. Sure, she was friendly but she rambled a lot, hence making her annoying. Oddly enough, she only acted like that around him. When she talked to other people, she had this aura of confidence-and sometimes borderline arrogance, but when she was with TK, she was so fidgety and had such a motormouth that it made everything she said sound like gibberish. It's like she was intentionally trying to annoy him. TK would never say that out loud though; Zoe was probably the closest thing TK had to a friend.

"Um, so...how was work?" Zoe fiddled with her kabob.

"We were both doing cashier work...," TK gave her a strange look.

"Oh my god, I can be such a doofus!" Zoe gave herself a facepalm.

"You're not a doofus," TK said.

"You think?" Zoe eagerly looked at him.

"Yeah," TK nodded.

"Yay-ahem, so did you know that the rest of the club decided to enter the film festival contest?" Zoe changed the subject.

"That's good," TK opened his pudding cup.

"No! It's not! They were talking about melting action figures in their film!" Zoe gasped.

"I'd watch that," TK shrugged.

"_Someone help me! Please?!_"

"What's going on?" Zoe looked at the fountain at the middle of the mall.

"What the? Is that Mimi?" TK squinted his eyes.

"I don't know of anyone else who would throw a fit like that in public," Zoe said.

"I'll go check up on her to make sure she's okay. Ugh, I can never catch a break," TK sighed.

"Why bother? She's so mean and annoying," Zoe said.

"She's my brother's girlfriend," TK said.

"Yeah, she's your _brother's_ girlfriend, not yours. Matt can take care of _that_," Zoe scorned.

"It's complicated, okay?" TK snapped. "If Matt saw my girlfriend in trouble, I'd expect him to help her out, even if she was a snob to him."

"Hopefully that would never happen," Zoe said.

"Hopefully what won't happen?"

"You dating a snobby girl. You're too smart, and sweet, and just overall too good to be with someone remotely anything like Mimi. I guess that's pretty much a given though, since you have the common sense to like Kari. She seems like a nice girl," Zoe rambled.

"Is it that obvious?" TK turned red.

"To me it is. I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I can usually pick up on energies. Sometimes it's good, but other times, I wish I were oblivious to it all," she sighed.

"_Aaaahhhhhh!_" Mimi's shrill scream pierced the air and the whole mall went still.

"You should get going. I guess I'll see you back on shift?" Zoe uptalked.

"Yeah," TK crumpled up his bag and threw it away. He walked over to the 'scene of the crime' to find Mimi weeping next to the fountain. "Uh, Mimi...are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! Matt cancelled on my date and now my bracelet dropped into the stupid fountain! This is the worst day ever!" Mimi cried.

"I'll be back," TK took off his shoes.

"What are you doing?" Mimi picked her head up.

"I'm getting your bracelet," TK hopped into the fountain.

_*rumble*_

"Oh shit...," TK could feel the ground vibrating underneath his feet. Why did he have to pick this time to help a selfish, spoiled brat out? There was a little show that happened every hour where the fountain would have pretty lights and water shooting out in different directions. It was pretty to look at, but it wasn't so nice being caught in. If she weren't his brother's girlfriend, TK would have never helped her out-no, that was a lie. TK knew that he would always try to come to a girl's rescue, no matter how bitchy she was to him.

_*splash*_ the fountain sprinklers gushed out and hit TK in the face.

"This is great," TK groaned as the water continued to gush in his face.

"To your left...no, more to the right...step back a little more-ugh! You just lost your spot!" Mimi shouted directions at him.

"Thanks, but I think I can handle it from here," TK said in frustration.

"It doesn't look like it," Mimi hollered.

"I don't need your help," TK got down on his knees and fished for her bracelet. The sooner he could find it, the better. "Aha!" he pulled it out of the water. He walked to the edge of the fountain and the water abruptly stopped. "Aw man! Why couldn't the water shut off earlier?"

"You got my bracelet?" Mimi eagerly said.

"Right here," TK dangled the bracelet on his finger.

"Thanks!" Mimi happily snatched the jewelry from his hand and tossed his shoes in the fountain.

* * *

"I get soaked for her and she pays me back by throwing my only pair of shoes into the fountain?" TK held his Toms up in disbelief. Not too long after his break, he was reprimanded and sent home for being dripping wet. Thanks to Mimi, TK had no dignity, no shoes, and no money. He gathered up all of his wet clothes and headed to the laundry room inside the apartment complex. He was too wrapped up in his thoughts to realize that his belongings were falling out of his laundry basket.

"Oh, you dropped this," Yolei picked up one of TK's shoes.

"Thanks," TK tried to shift his weight around to grab his shoe.

"I got it. Have a good day," Yolei put the shoe inside the basket and walked away.

"You too," TK mumbled to himself. He couldn't help but to shake the feeling that him and Yolei were nothing more than strangers now. Acquaintances was too strong of a word to describe their relationship. Never mind that they lived in the same apartment building. It didn't matter that they were good friends up until two years ago. By the way they acted with each other, it's as if their paths never crossed. He felt the same way about the rest of his old friends. Tai and Sora were nice to TK, but they didn't really make an effort to talk to him unless they happened to be in close proximity, as in a 5-foot radius. Davis was also nice to TK, but he was too busy playing pranks, nearly sexually harassing and flirting with Kari, and living a fast-paced life to notice TK most of the time. Sometimes Kari would say hi to him in the hallway, but that's as deep as their conversations got. Ken hung out with Yolei and Izzy, but he rarely socialized with people outside of the computer club. Joe was away at university, so it wasn't like they had any chances to talk anyways. Cody was still in middle school, but he was in a military training program that took up much of his time. Izzy went back to being a computer-loving recluse but even he had more friends than TK, and Izzy was as antisocial as one can get. The only one that remained a constant in TK's life was Mimi, and she wasn't exactly his most favorite person.

TK threw his shoes into the washing machine and put some quarters in the coin slot. He brought a book to kill some time while he waited for his clothes to get clean. He sat down in the closest chair next to the machine and started to read.

_*rumble rumble rumble*_

"Oh my god! What is that?!" a pregnant woman pointed at TK's washing machine.

"Oh shit..," TK's eyes grew big. The washing machine was smoking and it started to leak.

"I'll get the super!" the woman toddled out of the laundry room. In a matter of seconds, she was back and accompanied by a burly, angry-looking guy. He stomped over to TK's washing machine and shut it off. He unlocked the door and pulled out TK's soggy shoes.

"You idiot! You're not supposed to put shoes in the washer! You'll break the damn thing!" the super flailed the unfortunate shoes in TK's face. "Look! The sign says you're not supposed to put shoes in the machine," he pointed to a big board nailed to the wall. "You're also not supposed to put carpets, rugs, children, lipstick, or crayons in the machines! I'm assuming a bookworm like you should be able to read a simple sign and follow directions!"

"But I've washed my shoes in that before and nothing's happened," TK turned red.

"Don't say any more before I end up banning your apartment from using the laundry room," the super shooed him away.

"I'm sorry...," TK awkwardly said.

"Take your damn shoes with you," the super threw the shoes on the floor in front of TK.

"Just can't catch a break. Probably should make that my catchphrase," TK muttered as he put all of his stuff back into his basket.

* * *

"Vote for Natalie, get a cookie!" Natalie handed people boxes of cookies.

"You got my vote!" Takuya grabbed three boxes of cookies.

"No! One box per vote," Natalie slapped Takuya's hand.

"I'll vote for you three times-maybe even five if you let me get more boxes," Takuya bargained.

"That's not how it works," Kari said.

"Okay...well, you still got my vote!" Takuya flashed Natalie a thumbs up.

"Pathetic. I can't believe she's bribing people to vote for her. I can get people to vote for me without giving them stuff. Just watch and learn," Mimi flipped her hair and walked over to Takuya.

"Hi," Takuya said, munching on a cookie.

"How would you like to vote for me?" Mimi batted her eyelashes.

"Depends. Whatchoo got?" Takuya said.

"Nothing...," Mimi shot him a strange look.

"Then no," Takuya shook his head.

"No?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"Why should I? You're mean and you're not giving away anything cool. Call me back when you hand out Philly cheese steaks," Takuya took a bite of his cookie and walked away.

"I watched, but what was I supposed to learn?" Miki tapped her chin.

"If anything, you should totally take a page from Natalie's book," Meg held on to a pink bakery box.

"Meg! What is that in your hands?!" Mimi yelled.

"What? These cookies are to die for!" Meg exclaimed.

"Let me see," Miki grabbed a cookie and stuffed it in her mouth. "Oh my god! This tastes like babies in heaven!"

"That's not even the best part! They're vegan!" Meg squealed.

"That was vegan?!" Miki spit the cookie on the floor.

"Doesn't taste like it, right? Natalie said she'd email me the recipe! She's so nice," Meg said.

"Way to betray me!" Mimi slapped the cookie box out of Meg's hands.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" Meg whined.

"You're supposed to be my friend!" Mimi crossed her arms.

"I am your friend!" Meg said.

"Then why are you voting for Natalie?" Mimi asked.

"She makes amazing cookies," Meg said.

"Even if they are vegan...," Miki took another cookie. "She's a cheerleader who can bake good stuff. Look, unless you can instantly become more awesome than Natalie is, then don't count on everyone voting for you. I tell you this because I'm honest."

"Sometimes a little too honest. But you've got a point," Mimi frowned.

"I always do. Besides, just because she gave away cookies, it doesn't mean I'm going to vote for her," Miki reached for another cookie.

"Get your own box!" Meg moved the box out of Miki's reach.

"I will when Mimi leaves," Miki said.

"Would it kill you to be a little less blunt?" Mimi frowned.

"Yes. Yes, it would," Miki said. "Now let me have another cookie!"

"I would be really mad at you girls right now, but I just came up with such an amazing plan, that I'm too happy to rip your heads off! Auf Wiedersehen!" Mimi skipped into the cafeteria.

"What did she say?" Meg paused.

"Something about ripping being happy and wiener-seeing?" Miki shrugged.

"Ew. I could have never pictured Mimi as a pervert," Meg grimaced.

"Yoink!" Miki snatched the last cookie out of the box and ran down the hallway.

"Heyyyy!" Meg chased after her.

* * *

"Still having trouble with your film subject?" Zoe placed her head on TK's shoulder.

"What makes you say that?" TK tensely said.

"Because you basically burned a hole in that sheet of paper from all of that erasing," Kouichi observed.

"Dude, you'll come up with something. Maybe all you need is a cookie break," Takuya said.

"I don't think cookies are going to help me out here," TK snapped. "I want to make a film that'll expose the social hierarchy in school, but I don't know where to start. You guys already decided that Matt was boring."

"He was! If I wanted to watch someone eating cereal, I'll just put a mirror on my kitchen table and watch myself," JP said.

"Maybe you should start. Then you'd know what you'd look like when you scarf down food like a garbage disposal," Koji smirked.

"You boys are so ridiculous! Look, TK, I don't think your brother's boring. I like what he says," Zoe said.

"Thanks, but I think the guys are right. I need more...more people, more excitement. The problem is that nobody wants to be interviewed by a film club dork. Not even the drama club wants a part of it, and they like being on film," TK groaned.

"TK, I have considered your proposal and I accept," Mimi said.

"You two are engaged? How does Matt feel about that?" Takuya stupidly said.

"Ugh, please! TK offered me the main role in his movie!" Mimi said.

"I did? I don't remember-" TK looked confused.

"Now that I've given you the go, we have to come up with some terms and conditions. Move," Mimi nudged Zoe to the side and squeezed in between her and TK.

"Wha...?" TK blinked.

"For one thing, we only film outside of school," Mimi said.

"That's doable," TK nodded.

"Second, we pretend we don't know each other during school. I'm like jeopardizing my reputation just by sitting next to you," Mimi said.

"I agree with that. I'm jeopardizing my reputation by just acknowledging you," TK smirked.

"Ohhh, burn!" Takuya flailed his hand in front of his face.

"Cute," Mimi frowned. "Now, here's my last proposition. Nummer drei, I'm going to need a beauty budget of $50 a week."

"What? Are you freaking mad?!" TK jumped out of his seat.

"Aren't you underestimating yourself? You're gonna need at least $150 to cover up that mug of yours," Koji scoffed. The rest of the table tried to hold in their laughter.

"Why you even need money? You're already rich," Zoe made a face.

"Do you know how many hours I'd have to work to earn $50?! You can forget it, Mimi!" TK exclaimed.

"That's a bummer. I guess you won't have a movie to film then," Mimi shrugged.

"Yes. I'll just find someone else who is willing to be in my movie. Someone who will do it for free," TK said.

"Like who? No one else wants to even associate with you. That's how big of losers you all are. All of you," Mimi shot a menacing look at Zoe.

"I wouldn't worry much. I'm pretty sure Matt could hook me up with someone. I wonder if Natalie Kelly would be up for it," TK slung his camera bag on his shoulder.

"Wait! Ix-nay on the beauty budget! Meet me at the mall after school, okay? Good," Mimi grinned and walked off.

"Awesome...," TK brushed his fingers through his hair.

"You got your wish. At least you have something for your film subject now," JP said.

"Be careful what you wish for," Kouichi said as he struggled to open his pudding cup.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Spinning Around**

"Hey, are you following me?" Mimi snapped her fingers.

"Of course," TK held up his camera and continued to film her. When he thought of this video project, he would have never thought that he'd end up tagging along with Mimi in another one of her tedious shopping escapades. It was only the first day of filmmaking, and TK was already getting frustrated. He had to give Mimi's friends some credit, this is probably how they felt on a daily basis. How could they be so patient with a narcissistic girl who spent an eternity shopping at expensive stores? Well, Meg was the patient one. Miki would lose her temper with Mimi every once in a while, but Meg was more of a pushover.

"So which color should I get?" Mimi held up two identical dresses in similar colors.

"The pink one," Miki smirked.

"That's helpful!" Mimi snottily said.

"What do you want her to say? Both of them are pink," TK commented.

"Shut up! You're merely an observer! You don't have any speaking privileges!" Mimi snapped.

"Got it," TK nodded. He glumly watched her as he tried to come up with as many ways to bail out on the video project and/or fake his death.

"Go with magenta. Fuschia is so last season," Meg said.

"Oh my gosh, you're totally right!" Mimi said.

"Hey, PJ," Miki motioned TK over.

"The name's TK," TK corrected.

"Whatever. Anyways, wanna play a little game with Mimi?" Miki whispered.

"Not really...," TK warily said.

"I do this all the time. Just watch," Miki quietly said. "Hey, I'll put that one back. I'm getting bored of sitting around doing nothing anyways," she pried the emerald dress out of Mimi's fingers and stuck it back in its proper rack.

"How is that a game? Unless the game is pretending to be Mimi's butler, then I don't get it," TK gave Miki a confused look.

"Mimi thinks she's getting the magenta, when she's actually getting the other pink dress. She won't notice the difference, she never does. It only proves to me that girls are ridiculous. They spend hours deciding between two shades which happen to be the same color. The only reason I can tell the difference is because my dad is a painter," Miki casually said.

"You should make that a science experiment," TK remarked.

"Eh, too much work," Miki shrugged.

"Hello! Earth to TK! This is _my_ movie, so turn your camera to me!" Mimi clapped her hands.

"_Your_ movie?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"Duh! This movie is all about me! You don't get to interview my friends unless I give you permission to," Mimi said.

"I can interview who I want. I'm the producer, director, writer, and cameraman," TK said.

"And I'm the star!" Mimi said.

"Not for long if you're going to throw a hissy fit. Miki, Meg, how would you like to be the main stars of my movie?" TK said.

"Yea-" Meg got cut off.

"La la la la la! What, Meg? Sorry, TK can't hear you! Let's continue on! Ready, set, action!" Mimi snapped her fingers.

"Okay. So, what is one of the difficulties you face on a regular basis?" TK asked.

"What? English please," Mimi looked dumbfounded.

"He's asking in what ways your life is hard," Miki huffed.

"Oh, I can tell you that! You have no idea how hard it is to be me! People put a lot of pressure on you to be a trendsetter. For starters, you have to be a future teller in order to predict the latest trends, a math genius when it comes to finding good deals, a historian so you don't end up wearing something that was totally last season, a puzzle champ to pick clothes out that would match the clothes you already have, and an Olympic boxer when you and someone else fight over the last pair of Manolos-by the way, me and SJP totally went at war for some Louboutins. I won, true story...see? Film my feet!" Mimi commanded.

"Okay...," TK pointed his camera at Mimi's feet. This had to be the weirdest request he's gotten from her, and he had a strong feeling that there were more to come.

"See that legendary red sole? There it is," Mimi shuffled her feet so that the red bottom of her shoe was showing. "It's no wonder a lot of kids are fashion-challenged; they just don't have the same skills that I do."

"Fascinating...," TK sighed.

"I'm gonna go try on the clothes to see how they look on me-I only do it to get the shopping experience. Everything looks good on me!" Mimi held up an armful of clothes and headed to the dressing rooms, TK trailing behind her. "What are you doing?" Mimi glared at TK.

"What? You wanted me to follow you everywhere," TK dumbly said.

"Not in the dressing rooms, you dingus! Get out!" Mimi pushed TK's forehead back.

"Sorry!" TK stumbled out of the dressing room and crashed onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" Meg helped TK up.

"I'm not sure...this whole video project is a lot harder than I expected it to," TK groaned. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you hang out with Mimi?"

"Because she's my friend," Meg replied.

"Besides that," TK said.

"I'm her friend because she's one of the only people who don't think I'm a bitch. Everyone else was too scared to talk to me, but she wasn't," Miki said.

"She was nice to me when I moved here two years ago. New kids are automatically losers when they go to a different school, so I was surprised that she even came up to me. I know. A lot of people don't believe this, but Mimi really is a sweet girl," Meg said.

"Wow," TK mumbled. He remembered how Mimi used to be kind to everyone, but that felt like such a long time ago. What made her change?

"TK!" Mimi yelled.

"That's my cue," TK straightened himself up.

"It's about time! How do I look?" Mimi struck a pose.

"Uh...nice?" TK said.

"Nice? Just nice?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" TK shot her a quizzical look.

"What about hot? Gorgeous? Beautiful?" Mimi interrogated.

"Yeah, all of the above," TK nervously said. He didn't know what to say. Even when he complimented her, she bit his head off.

"Forget it. Now shoo," Mimi said in a diva-like attitude and went back in the dressing room.

"Okay...," TK rolled his eyes and sat with the other girls. "So is this what you girls do every day after school?"

"Yeah," Meg said.

"Pretty much. I hate shopping, so this is hell for me," Miki said.

"Then why are you at the mall every day?" TK looked puzzled.

"For the lemonade slushies at the Big Squeeze. It's the one thing I look forward to every day," Miki said.

"That's...uh," TK made a weird face.

"You never had one, have you?" Miki asked.

"No," TK said.

"You have to try it! They're so addictive," Meg said.

"Girls! How do I look in this?" Mimi strutted towards them.

"Gorgeous, like usual!" Meg gushed.

"Gorgeous enough to make Matt fall in love with me?" Mimi coyly pouted.

"I don't think Matt cares about what you wear," TK blurted.

"What?!" Mimi shot him a glare.

"I-" TK's mouth hung open.

"He's right. He's most likely too busy thinking about what you'd look like without clothes on to care about what you're wearing," Miki remarked.

"Wow, TK...you're a lot smarter than I thought. Maybe now I won't be ashamed to drag you along to the clam bake. After all, I like my paparazzo to be well-behaved," Mimi teasingly smiled.

"Clam bake?" TK dumbly repeated.

"Yeah! It's this Saturday. Matt's going," Mimi said.

"He is?" TK asked.

"Duh! Matt's band is gonna perform a couple of songs! Everyone important is going to be there!" Mimi raved.

"I didn't know that," TK said.

"Well now you do. You better show up too! We have lots of filming to do!" Mimi threatened.

"You'll have lots of fun!" Meg said.

"There's a lot of seafood there," Miki added.

"Awesome," was the only word TK could muster. How come he didn't know about this? Did Matt purposely keep this a secret from him or did he just forget to tell him? Sure, Matt was a forgetful guy, but TK wasn't exactly the coolest person around. Was TK that much of a dweeb that Matt didn't want to tell him about it? Or maybe Matt just assumed that TK wasn't interested in going because he didn't like seafood and he wasn't that social. As much as he wanted to confront Matt, he wasn't sure if it was a smart idea. If Matt didn't tell him about it, then there was probably a good reason why.

* * *

"How's the filming going so far?" Zoe asked.

"I can't say much yet," TK frowned. In a matter of a couple of days, TK was reduced to Mimi's perfume and nail polish tester, coat rack, and butler. The night before, he had to endure a two-and-a-half hour discussion with his mom about how she would accept him for being a crossdressing homosexual. He asked Mr. Mueller if he could change his video topic, but it was too late. TK hoped that the mental abuse would be worth the $1000 prize.

"You look like you need a break from all of this," Kouichi said.

"You think?" TK picked at his nails, trying to peel the polish off.

"You know, I have nail polish remover in my locker if you need it," Zoe said.

"They make that?" TK asked.

"Boys," Zoe rolled her eyes. "Sit tight. I'll be back."

"Sitting tight," Takuya said.

"I'm back," Zoe held up a bottle of polish remover. "You guys are going to be so amazed when you see this. TK, give me your hand."

"Okay," TK put his hand in Zoe's. She soaked a cotton ball in the remover and gently rubbed it over TK's nail.

"Holy crap! It's like magic!" Takuya explained.

"And I thought my magic tricks were epic," JP gawked.

"Admit it, Koji. It's pretty cool," Kouichi nudged his twin brother.

"Whatever," Koji coldly said.

"Wow, thanks Zoe!" TK held up his hand. His nails were back to their natural color.

"No problem," Zoe smiled.

"I feel normal again," TK said.

"Enjoy it while you can. Before you know it, you'll be back on the battlefield," Koji smirked.

"Thanks. You just reminded me that I have to go to some stupid clam bake this weekend," TK groaned.

"What? You got invited to one of their clam bakes?" JP gasped.

"Yep," TK said, clearly not thrilled about it.

"Do you know how much of a big deal that is?" Zoe asked.

"No. Someone enlighten me," TK looked at his friends.

"Only the A-listers get invited to those things unless an A-lister brings you along. Even then, they just don't like having any non A-listers at the clam bake," JP said.

"If only A-listers are invited, then how did Mimi get in? She's not smart enough to be on the high honors roll," TK made a face.

"A-listers, not the A-Squad!" Takuya said.

"What's the difference?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"The A-listers are the most popular kids in the school. The A-Squad is made up of the top 25 smartest kids in the school...most of them being in the Computer Club," Zoe explained.

"Don't be modest. You're an A-Squad member yourself," Koji snorted.

"You are?" everyone gasped.

"What does it matter if I am? It's not like people are gonna like me any better. The Computer Club won't talk to me because even they think I'm a loser," Zoe poked at her salad.

"It's really bad when the Nerd Herd is cooler than us. Sometimes I wonder how we're the biggest losers in the school," Kouichi said.

"Ha! I wonder that every day," JP frowned.

"Who cares?" Koji scoffed.

"Come on. Even you care," Kouichi said.

"Yeah, right," Koji crossed his arms.

"Seriously, what happened to us? Before I came to high school, I was on the soccer team in the Shibuya district. I was pretty damn good too," Takuya pounded his fist on the table.

"I used to be MVP in my basketball team," TK bitterly said.

"Were you better at a sport than Davis Motomiya?" Kouichi looked at TK with wide eyes.

"I don't want to brag, but I did hold the record for scoring the most points in the season," TK said.

"What happened? You could have been popular!" JP explained.

"Not really. I attempted to try out for the high school's team, but they didn't want me," TK said.

"Why not? If you were as talented as you say, then why didn't they want you?" Zoe asked.

"Apparently, I wasn't good enough to be on the varsity team. It didn't matter that I was the star player the year before, they didn't let me try out," TK sighed.

"That's not fair!" Takuya yelled.

"Life isn't made to be fair," Koji smirked.

"If it counts for anything, I think you're too good for that dumb team anyways. You're perfect just the way you are," Zoe placed her hand on TK's shoulder.

"Aww, Zee! You sound like a mommy!" Takuya cooed.

"Shut up!" Zoe snapped.

"At least you guys used to be cool. I was always a loser. I don't blame anyone. I mean, who would want to be friends with a weird, fat kid who does magic tricks?" JP sighed.

"You have us. We're not just a club; we're also a group of people who stick together, whether we like it or not," Zoe said.

"We're also a group of people who sit closest to the garbage bins," Koji snorted.

"Yeah, it's like the closer you are to the garbage, the more uncool you are," Kouichi observed.

"Hmm...," Takuya pulled out a scrap of paper and started drawing rectangles.

"What are you doing?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"Drawing a diagram of the cafeteria. Kouichi's right," Takuya tapped his pencil on the piece of paper. "You see, our table is the closest to the trash bins. After that, the Geek Squad is the second closest to the garbage. Since our tables surround the trash bins, the drama club barely scrapes by. Behind the drama club are the anime freaks and other dorks who weren't smart enough for the computer club. The poser hipsters sit across from them. The emos, punks, metalheads, and goth kids peacefully share the table behind the wannabe hipsters, and the bookworms and the real hipsters sit across the 'alternative' kids. The gangsta kids and the C-listers sit in the same row, and the B-listers take up all of the next row. As you can guess, the A-listers get the tables all the way in the back, the ones closest to the lunch line."

"So there's B and C-listers too?" TK grimaced.

"Yep! The C-listers are the average-looking kids, who don't necessarily have any talents. They're just the generic kids next door. The B-listers are the the normal-looking jocks and attractive kids who aren't on any sports teams, but they have other talents and the A-listers are made up of the creme of the creme; the alphas of jocks and attractive people. Oh, and all the foreign exchange students are automatically on the A-list. No offense, but your brother totally falls into the B-list category," Takuya said.

"No offense taken," TK said.

"I don't get why you're not popular. You're pretty, smart, and nice. You're too good to be hanging around us," JP said to Zoe.

"I just never got along with girls. No matter how nice I was to them, they never liked me. All they did was ruin my stuff and call me a snobby bitch behind my back. Why waste your time on people who hate you anyways, right?" Zoe shrugged.

"Amen to that!" Koji held up his milk carton.

"But she's nice. You're just an ass. That's why people don't like you," Kouichi said.

"Precisely. I'm an ass and if you don't like it, then go suck a-," Koji said.

_*RIIIIIIING!*_

"Saved by the bell...," Kouichi quietly mumbled.

"Speak for yourself," TK said. A couple more rings, and TK would have to report to the oh-so-glamorous gatekeeper of hell.

* * *

"I was supposed to meet her here at 11," TK checked his cell phone. He scanned the beach, but there was no sign of her.

"TK? What are you doing here?" Kari approached him.

"I, uh...," TK immediately froze. Great, he knew he didn't belong here. He should have played sick so that he wouldn't have to bear Kari's unwelcome stare. After all of the panicking, TK managed to muster, "Mimi invited me."

"Oh, that's...weird. Weird, but good," Kari's face softened.

"Really?" TK blushed.

"Yeah. It's been a while since we've talked. I see Matt and Mimi a lot, but I haven't really had a chance to talk to anyone else. You know, cheerleading, volleyball, and going to like every party, it really takes a toll. What have you been up to? I barely see you at school," Kari asked.

"I'm in the filmmaking club," TK said.

"Our school has a filmmaking club? I didn't know that," Kari made a face.

"Yeah," TK massaged the back of his neck. He wasn't exactly proud of being in the filmmaking club, but he was ticked off at how people didn't acknowledge the club's existence, which happened a lot. Unless it was to make fun of them, nobody paid any attention to the filmmaking club. It was almost as if they were invisible upon request.

"So, anything else new?" Kari twirled a lock of her hair.

"Uh, I work at the mall. You should come on over to Grind Me," TK fiddled with the strap of his camera bag.

"Excuse me?" Kari's jaw dropped.

"Grind Me," TK said.

"This is the first time we've spoken to each other in a while, and you expect me to be okay with us going to the mall just so you can go to grind me?" Kari looked disgusted.

"Whoa! If you're not up for that-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you the wrong idea-"

"Well, it's too late for that!" Kari scoffed.

"But why?" TK tried his best not to look upset. "Do you have something against coffee shops? We do get our coffee beans through fair trade, if that's what you want to know."

"Oh, the coffee shop! I'm so sorry," Kari blushed.

"No, I should have explained that it was a coffee shop. I just assumed everyone knew that Grind Me-," TK turned red.

"No, I'm sorry. You don't have to say anything," Kari bit her lip.

_*BONK*_

"Ow!" TK got hit in the head with a volleyball.

"Hey! I'm not paying you to stand around and chit chat!" Mimi approached TK and picked up the volleyball.

"Um, you're not paying me anything," TK rubbed his head.

"I guess I'll leave you two. I don't want to interrupt anything. Bye TK," Kari said.

"Bye," TK goofily smiled.

"Hey, focus!" Mimi snapped her fingers.

"Huh?" TK shook his head.

"It's show time! Why isn't your camera on?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"Why weren't you here at 11 o'clock like you said?" TK asked.

"Hello! I arrive fashionably late! You have so much to learn!" Mimi rolled her eyes.

"I guess I do," TK sighed.

"Hold on for a sec," Mimi winked and dashed over to Matt.

"Hey babydoll," Matt wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick peck.

"Look who I brought," she grabbed Matt's hand and pulled him over to TK.

"TK?" Matt blinked.

"Mimi! What were you thinking?! Why did you bring him over?" Matt gasped.

"Huh?" TK's jaw dropped.

"What? He's filming my movie-"

"It's _my_ movie," TK interrupted.

"Stay out of this," Matt nudged him to the side.

"He's making a movie about me, so wherever I go, he goes...except during school, and the dressing room, or my bed-"

"That's not the point! Logan didn't want me here, what do you think he'll do when he sees TK here?" Matt yelled.

"Whatever! He can't do anything to him, as long as he's near me," Mimi said.

"No! TK, go home!" Matt yelled.

"Okay," TK tried not to sound too happy.

"No, stay!" Mimi grabbed TK's hand.

"Okay," TK glumly said.

"No, go!" Matt took TK's other hand.

"Whoa!" TK stumbled on his feet.

"Stay!"

"Go!"

"Stay!"

"Go!"

"Stay!"

"Stop it!" TK yelled. "I'm not a ragdoll! You're pulling my arms out of its sockets!"

"Sorry," Matt and Mimi let go of him, and TK fell to the ground.

"Fine, Meems. Do what you want. Just make sure TK stays safe and out of Logan's sight," Matt sighed.

"Thank you," Mimi haughtily crossed her arms.

"TK, be careful," Matt said.

"I'll try," TK nodded.

"Hey guys!" Meg ran up to them. Miki slowly trailed behind her.

"Girls!" Mimi squealed.

"I'm gonna check up on the band. Be careful," Matt lightly pinched the skin of TK's elbow and walked away.

"Mimi, why are you so dressed up?" Miki made a face. Now that Miki pointed it out, TK looked at what Mimi was wearing compared to the other girls. While all of the other girls were in shorts and bikini tops, Mimi was covered in multiple layers. She was wearing a thick blue blazer, a sailor-style dress, and blue high heels with red bows on the toes. She must be hot underneath that blazer. By the way, who wears high heels on the beach? This girl was more insane than TK thought.

"I have to look gorgeous 24/7! You never know when a photo op will strike," Mimi grinned.

"Okay...wanna go get some popsicles?" Meg asked.

"Sounds like a good idea," TK said.

"Definitely! It's so hot out here!" Miki pulled at her bikini top.

"Hold up," Mimi unsteadily trudged in the sand.

"Take off those shoes! My feet are hurting just by watching you walk," Miki snapped.

"Alright. Bare feet don't necessarily go with my outfit, but if I end up on Glamour's Don't list, it's on you," Mimi threatened.

"I think I can live with that," Miki made a face.

"Here, hold these," Mimi tossed her shoes at TK.

"You're welcome...," TK frowned.

"Hello! Earth to TK!" Mimi shouted.

"Coming," TK ran up to the girls, shoes and camera equipment in stow.

"Do you want one?" Meg held a popsicle up for TK.

"Thanks," he said.

"Get me a cherry one," Miki stretched her hand out.

"Here you go. Mimi, do you want one?" Meg asked.

"No thanks, but maybe I should get one for Matt. He likes grape," Mimi rummaged through the cooler. "I'll be right back!"

"Okay," Miki said.

"How are you enjoying the clam bake?" Meg asked.

"It's my first time here," TK shrugged.

"Guaranteed, you're gonna have a better time than Mimi will," Miki remarked.

"Why do you say that?" TK asked.

"Look," Meg tilted her chin in Mimi's direction. Mimi went up to Matt and handed him the ice pop. He nodded, patted her head and walked off. TK uncomfortably watched as Mimi stood by herself for a couple of minutes. For once, TK couldn't help but to feel a little sorry for her.

"Turn around, pretend you didn't see that," Miki nudged TK.

"Does that happen a lot?" TK asked.

"You have no idea," Meg said.

"Ugh, why does she even bother with him?" Miki said in disgust.

"That's my brother you're talking about," TK said.

"I think she only stays with him to make Natalie jealous. Natalie's not rich or anything, but for some reason, Mimi feels like she has to compete with her," Meg bit off a piece of her popsicle.

"It's totally obvious that the band is Matt's number one priority. I'd even go as far as to say that he loves his band more than he likes her," Miki said.

"That's not true. He does invest a lot of his time in the band, but it's always been something he's passionate about. Even so, I don't think he would choose the band over her," TK said.

"Oh yeah? Then why does he always cancel on her all the time?" Meg asked.

"And didn't you see what just happened? He left with the band, and she's standing by herself like a pathetic groupie," Miki crossed her arms.

"Speaking of which, let's talk about something else. She's coming back," Meg warned.

"Hey. Sorry I took so long! Matt just couldn't stop talking!" Mimi half-heartedly giggled.

"That's nice," Meg smiled.

_*beep beep beep*_ Miki's phone began to ring.

"Crap! I forgot! We have to go to work...," Miki groaned.

"You guys work?" TK was shocked.

"They do, I don't," Mimi said.

"Yeah. We're secretary assistants at the precinct here," Meg said.

"Mimi, can you get a ride home from someone else?" Miki asked.

"Yeah, totally! I'll just go home with Matt," Mimi said. "Have fun at work!"

"We'll try," Miki waved goodbye.

"Don't forget, we have to stop by the doughnut shop!" Meg said.

"That's right. Well, have a good time guys," Miki said.

"Thanks," TK waved.

"Now, where were we?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"Uh...," TK struggled to be quiet. He was going to be a smartass and tell her that she was going to continue biting his head off for no reason, but he decided not to. He thought it was best not to provoke this girl. He wasn't in the mood for another one of her temper tantrums, but when was he ever?

"Hey! You little punk!" a muscly redheaded guy charged toward TK.

"Uh oh," Mimi nervously said.

"Me?" TK pointed at himself.

"Yeah! What the hell are you doing here?!" the guy grabbed TK by the front of his shirt.

"Stop it, Logan! He's with me!" Mimi yelled.

"Seriously?" the guy threw TK down in the sand. "I'm not running an animal shelter. How many strays are you going to keep bringing?"

"Who are you calling a stray?" TK said, miffed.

"He's making a movie about me, so of course I had to let him come!" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"I don't care if he makes you a sandwich, you know how I feel about these kind of people," Logan shot TK a scornful look.

"Come on, Logan! Can you please give him a break?" Mimi pleaded.

"That's what you said about your boyfriend, and now he's like at every get-together I throw! You're on really thin ice with me. If you bring one more stray-," Logan said.

"I'm not a stray," TK picked himself up from the sand.

"Shut up, stray!" Logan pushed him back down.

"What makes you think you can claim the whole beach anyways? I have as much right to be here as any of you," TK steadied himself.

"Oh, so we've got a smart one here," Logan cracked his knuckles and decked TK in the face.

"Logan!" Mimi shrieked.

"What the heck is going on?"

"Matt!" Mimi gasped.

"Hey! You got a problem with my brother?" Matt tackled Logan and put him in a headlock.

"Yeah! What are you gonna do about it?" Logan sneered. He broke free from Matt's grip and grabbed him by the neck.

"Logan! Stop it! Please!" Mimi whined.

"Don't get in the middle of this," TK pulled Mimi by the wrist.

"Just get out of here," Matt shifted his body in a way that he was able to slam Logan into the sand.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to see me beating the crap out of your little boyfriend," Logan shakily stood up.

"Oh really?" Matt punched him in the face. "Leave TK alone, or this isn't the only thing coming to you. Mimi, I'm out. Have fun," Matt stormed out of the beach.

"You got off easy this time," Logan staggered over to TK. "I don't want to see this kid at any of my parties again, understand?"

"Fine," Mimi said. When Logan was out of earshot, she turned over to TK. "I hope you're satisfied with yourself! This is all your fault!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! How is this my fault? If you don't recall, you were the one who dragged me here," TK shook some seaweed off.

"Uh...well, uh," Mimi struggled to say something.

"Exactly! You can't come up with a reason," TK smirked.

You're so impossible! I can't even look at you right now!" Mimi turned her back to him and walked away.

"This turned out great," TK muttered to himself. He grabbed his camera equipment, which was miraculously dry. He figured that it would have gotten ruined by the schlepping he did. He was already at the beach, so he might as well find something to do. He spotted Kari and trudged over to her.

"You look terrible. Did something happen?" Kari remarked.

"Nah," TK sat down in the sand next to her.

"So, what's with all of that stuff? Are you in the yearbook committee too?" Kari pointed to TK's camera bag.

"No, it's part of my film project," TK put his bag on his lap.

"Film project?" Kari cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah. It's a contest. Whoever makes the best video wins $1000, and I could use the money," TK said.

"What's your movie about?" Kari asked.

"It was supposed to be a documentary about popularity, but it somehow ended up being 'A Day in the Life of Mimi'," TK said.

"Oh," Kari poked her finger in the sand.

"I have some footage of Matt too, but I'd like to have more people than just Matt and Mimi in my film. If you want to, you can be in my documentary," TK shrugged.

"That sounds nice," Kari smiled.

"Yeah. Just let me know," TK said.

"TK!"

"Your girlfriend's calling you," Kari smirked.

"Girlfriend?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"TK!" Mimi stomped over to him.

"Yes, Mimi?" TK looked up at her.

"I want to leave," she curtly said.

"Okay...see you in school, I guess?" TK shrugged.

"I don't have a ride!" Mimi yelled.

"What about Matt?" TK asked.

"Jeremy said that he got so pissed off, he left!" Mimi said.

"I don't think Tai would mind taking you home. He's helping out with the clam bake but he can give you a ride later," Kari said.

"But I want to go home now. TK, do something about this! You got me into this situation, now you're gonna get me out of it," Mimi pulled TK by the collar of his shirt.

"I'll see you around," TK said.

"Bye," Kari waved goodbye.

"What was that about?" TK fixed his shirt.

"Take me home," Mimi demanded.

"How? I have a bike...," TK said.

"Don't you have a car?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"No," TK said.

"This is great! Why did I have to get stuck with a useless person?" Mimi kicked the sidewalk.

"Hey! If you hate my company that much, you could just stay at the party," TK pressed his lips together.

"I don't feel like staying!" Mimi stomped her foot.

"Okay then...here, take my Charlie. There should be enough to get you across town. Just give it to Matt when you're done with it," TK handed his subway card to Mimi.

"Ew, you expect me to use public transportation?" Mimi gingerly held the card in between her thumb and pointer finger.

"You could ride in the bike with me, but I don't know how that'll work out. We can always try," TK said.

"I guess that might have to do...," Mimi huffed. They walked over to TK's bike and she automatically stuck her tongue out. "Gross! Who made that? Little Tykes?"

"Actually, it was my neighbor Santiago's bike. He was always making modifications on it, but he gave it to me when he moved back to California," TK climbed onto his lowrider bicycle. It looked almost like a motorcycle; the only thing that was really missing was the actual engine.

"I am not riding on that," Mimi grimaced.

"Okay, what do you want me to do about it? Unless you have a better option, this is as good as it's gonna get," TK said.

"I'd rather walk home," Mimi stuck her nose up in the air.

"I'm really starting to lose my patience with you...," TK tightly held onto his motorcycle helmet. He tried to restrain himself from exploding, but he couldn't hold it in any longer. "You're an annoying, spoiled little bitch!"

"What?" Mimi gasped.

"That's right! You're a bitch!" TK yelled.

"Is that so?" Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"You heard me," TK shakily said. Sure, he thought that Mimi was a bitch, but it was a completely different thing to say it loud. There was no turning back though. "I bend over backwards for you and you're still not satisfied! I'm sorry that nothing I do is ever good enough for you!"

"You should be! Do you know how generous and willing I'm being for working under these crude conditions? I'm doing you a favor and you can't even try to accommodate me," Mimi scoffed.

"Whoa! Are you serious?" TK asked.

"Yeah! Did it sound like I was joking?"

"That's it, you're fired! I can't work with your high-maintenance attitude anymore! I don't know how Matt can deal with you for longer than five minutes-oh, that's right, he doesn't! He's too busy hanging out with his band!" TK blurted. He knew that was a cheap shot, but this girl deserved it.

"You can't fire me because I'm firing you!" Mimi yelled.

"No, that's not how it works. I can still make the movie, it just won't have you in it. On the other hand, it's impossible to have a movie about you unless you can find another person who's crazy enough to go through all of your antics and verbal abuse!"

"Fine then. I quit! Happy?" Mimi stomped her foot.

"No. You can't quit because I already fired you," TK said. He instantly regretted saying that. The last thing he wanted to do was keep fighting with her, and that last comment was sure to tick her off.

"Hmph," Mimi pressed her lips together and started walking away.

"Oh Jesus," TK sighed and followed Mimi.

"What do you want? Just leave me alone," Mimi haughtily said.

"Look, I'm not going to let you walk around the city by yourself," TK said.

"I can handle getting home by myself," Mimi quipped..

"I'm not giving you a choice. If you can't cooperate, then I'll have to cause a scene and everyone will see us hanging out together in public. Maybe I should sing...Matt's a good singer so that means I should be one too, right?" TK smirked.

"Alright, alright, just shut up! Ugh...," Mimi made a face. She watched as people passed by her and TK.

"Come on," TK said.

"Fine, but I'm only putting this on so that people can't see my face," she strapped the helmet on and flipped the covering down.

"Nice," TK groaned.

* * *

It was a week since TK officially fired Mimi, and he barely had five minutes of film-worthy material. If he didn't want to watch 5 hours of a girl trying on clothes and throwing fits, why would he want to pass that agony on to the entire school?

"Why don't you just apologize to her?" JP suggested.

"Are you serious?! I didn't do anything wrong!" TK threw his hands up in the air.

"Yeah, but girls like it when you apologize to them, even when they know they're wrong. I apologize to my mom all the time, just to shut her up," Takuya said.

"Takuya's right. Girls like it when you apologize to us, even though we're clearly right," Zoe said.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you think I should say sorry to her?" TK exclaimed.

"How badly do you want this movie to get done?" Kouichi said.

"I'm not sure," TK mumbled. Miki and Meg were nice enough to let him interview them, and he did have some footage of Matt, but that was all of the non-Mimi content he had. He tried to get Kari in his video, but she was either talking to someone else, rushing to get to class on time, or something "important" managed to come up.

"Hello, TK, Zoe, JP, Takuya, Koji, and Kouichi. How are your video projects coming along?" Mr. Mueller walked by their table.

"It's coming along great! Right, Koji?" Takuya grinned.

"Yep," Koji nonchalantly said.

"TK, what about you?" Mr. Mueller leaned closer to TK.

"Uh, everything's fine," TK turned red.

"That's good to hear. Remember, these submissions have to be handed in two weeks. It might seem like a lot of time, but it's a lot quicker than you think, so it's crunch time," Mr. Mueller said.

"Yep," Zoe said.

"Good luck, kids! Get to working," Mr. Mueller skipped away.

"I'm so toast," TK groaned.

"Don't worry about it, you'll do fine," Zoe rubbed TK's shoulders. "Why don't you take your mind off of it and come to the Cubicle with us tomorrow? They're gonna play a classic film there for free, and I think we should get familiar with old movies. We are the filmmaking club after all."

"Yeah, it's not you have anything better to do tomorrow night anyways," Koji snorted.

"I guess you're right. I'll go," TK sighed.

"Awesome! We're gonna have one wild night!" Zoe giddily squealed.

"This is why you're popular," Koji rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Mimi, is that you?" TK squinted.

"Hey," Mimi sniffled.

"What's wrong?" TK asked.

"Yeah, like totally. Just left from one of Matt's concerts, the usual, you know?" Mimi shakily giggled. She tried to stay composed, particularly in front of TK. Ever since their dispute, the last thing Mimi wanted was to give TK another reason to patronize her. She was still hurt about all of the things TK said to her, especially the comment about Matt. She didn't want TK to get to her, even though this night was proof that TK was right. It was a normal Saturday night; Matt's band was playing at a jazz club and of course, Mimi attended the venue. Her and Matt were supposed to go out after the concert, but like usual, Matt decided to go to an arcade with his bandmates. Mimi acted understanding, but she wasn't sure how long she could keep up with this. Miki and Meg were working that night, so she was ultimately left by herself.

"Uh...so, we're going to watch 'It Happened One Night'. Do you want to watch along, you know, just unwind?" TK asked.

"No, she can't. She's not wearing a hat, so she's not invited," Takuya said.

"This is a club outing, but you can join along if you want to," Zoe twitched.

"That's okay. I'm tired anyways," Mimi sighed. She had this feeling that they didn't want her to tag along. They sounded like they were obligated to invite her, and Mimi didn't want to look desperate to come. It was an all-time low to be pitied by the filmmaking club.

"Come on. I'm pretty sure Zoe would like to have another girl along. Probably a nice change from a bunch of idiot boys," TK chuckled.

"Hey! Who are you calling an idiot?" Koji defensively growled.

"Come on, you know what I mean!" TK exclaimed.

"Umm...," Mimi pressed her lips together.

"It would be a shame to go home this early, especially when you look really pretty. You wouldn't want to waste a good outfit, right?" Zoe nervously tugged her ear.

"So how's it?" TK asked.

"Okay, I'll come along," Mimi said.

"We only bought six tickets assuming that-" Zoe was cut off.

"That's okay, I'll pay for her ticket," TK handed money to the guy at the ticket box.

"You don't have to-" Mimi began to say.

"No, it's okay. After all, it must be excruciating to be seen hanging out with dweebs in public," TK smirked.

"You don't have to anything if you don't want to. I can just go home," Mimi was miffed. She should have declined their invitation; it was only giving TK an opportunity to mean to her. She had a taste of her own medicine; this was probably how other people felt when she was acting snotty toward them. She tried to hide the fact that she was crying by casually wiping her tears dry, but she knew TK could tell. Luckily everyone else was at the concession stand, so they couldn't see her cry.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It was only a joke, honestly! I didn't think you'd be offended. I'm sorry," TK looked guilty.

"It's okay. I guess I'm just having a rough night," Mimi dabbed her face, being careful not to smudge her makeup.

"I'm sorry," TK frowned.

"Hey, you don't look too good," Zoe gave Mimi a concerned look.

"I'm fine. It's just a little hot," Mimi forced a smile.

"Yeah, this place does need a better AC. Wanna get some snacks?" Zoe asked.

"No, I'm fine," Mimi shook her head.

"I ate before I came here," TK said.

"You never get anything when we go out. You know we can always spot you," Zoe said.

"I know, but-"

"That's TK for you. Even when we go to a restaurant, he only sticks with the bread and water," Zoe said.

"I don't have money to be spending like that," TK blushed.

"It's okay to treat yourself once in a while. You deserve it," Zoe said.

"I am treating myself. This movie is my little reward," TK said.

"..." Mimi instantly felt horrible. She was such a bitch to him, so she was surprised when he bought her a ticket considering that TK barely spent money on extra things for himself.

"Aww JP! How nice of you to buy all of these snacks for us to share!" Takuya obnoxiously yelled.

"Uh...these were all for me," JP blushed. He had a large tub of popcorn, large slushie, five boxes of candy, nachos, and jalapeño poppers.

"Takuya! What did I tell you about doing that?" Zoe snapped.

"But it's funny," Takuya laughed.

"Leave JP alone!" Zoe yelled.

"Yeah, if he wants to commit suicide by getting clogged arteries and high sugar levels, let him," Koji shrugged.

"You guys are making me feel fat," JP frowned.

"Feel?" Takuya smirked.

"Knock it off already!" Zoe twisted Takuya's ear.

"Zoo-wee mama!" Takuya squirmed.

"Sorry about them," TK said.

"No, it's okay. They're...entertaining," Mimi watched as Takuya was running around the lobby, trying to get away from Zoe.

"You obviously haven't hung out with them enough yet," TK smirked.

* * *

"I hate to admit it, but I actually had a good time," Mimi said.

"You did?" TK raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I haven't seen that movie in years. I'm a sucker for Frank Capra films," Mimi took off her jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

"Who?" TK dumbly asked.

"Frank Capra, the director of the movie. He's like my favorite director of all time," Mimi gushed.

"Ooh, so you're an old Hollywood buff, huh?" TK teasingly smiled.

"I am not, and you better not tell anyone," Mimi poked TK in the chest.

"Why not? I think that's interesting. I think you know more about classic films than anyone in the filmmaking club. I mean it's not saying much, but you probably know more than all of us combined," TK grinned.

"Shut up," Mimi playfully smacked TK in the arm.

"What? Most people at school would probably say that the best director in history was the guy who produced all of those Twilight films. You know what? I bet half of these kids don't even know what a director is," TK turned on his camcorder.

"What are you doing?" Mimi gasped.

"Come on! This is what people want to see. Besides, you owe me big time," TK tapped his fingers on his camcorder.

"How?" Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"Since you were being a pain, I wasn't able to work on my video. The least you could do is let me film you being nice," TK pouted.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Mimi giggled.

"Apfelstrudel!"

"Oh my gosh! Greta?" Mimi sprung up from the couch.

"Hallo, Apfelstrudel!" a young-looking blonde woman hugged Mimi.

"Oh my gosh! I thought you had tonight off!" Mimi squealed.

"I did, but I decided to come over anyways. I was thinking of baking some Apfelstrudels with my Apfelstrudel, but I see you have company," Greta craned her head over to see TK.

"Nah, it's fine! Greta, _das ist ein Freund TK_," Mimi gestured towards TK.

"What did you say about me?" TK looked paranoid.

"I was just introducing you to Greta. TK, this is Greta," Mimi pulled Greta over to TK.

"Hallo! _Freut mich_," Greta happily shook TK's hand.

"Uh...," TK stupidly gawked.

"It's nice to meet you," Greta translated.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you too," TK said.

"Sorry, sometimes I lapse into my German. My little Apfelstrudel's been picking up a few phrases here and there," Greta said.

"You're learning German?" TK asked.

"Ja! That's German for yes," Mimi grinned.

"That's pretty cool," TK said.

"I know, right? Deutsch is the new hot trend, or at least that's what I'm going to make it. French is soooo overrated-"

"I'm half-French...," TK gave Mimi a stern look.

"Oops, I forgot...," Mimi bit her lip.

"That's okay," TK cracked up. "I just wanted to see your reaction!"

"You little twerp!" Mimi picked up a throw pillow and hit TK with it.

"_Er ist niedlich. Dein fester Freund_?" Greta winked at Mimi.

"Nein!" Mimi said.

"_Wann werde ich endlich deinen Freund treffen_?" Greta whined.

"What are you guys talking about?" TK sounded worried.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Mimi blushed. "How about we make some strudel now?"

"Good idea," Greta picked up her grocery bag.

"I'll carry it," TK took the bag and placed it on the kitchen counter.

"Thank you," Greta giggled. She emptied the contents of the bag and spread them out.

"Yummy! I'm already getting hungry just looking at the ingredients!" Mimi squealed.

"Oh, speaking of which...," TK brought his camera over. "I think we should film a cooking show!"

"You're making a cooking show?" Greta asked.

"Yeah. It's this video project he's doing at school and I'm the star!" Mimi grinned.

"Hmm..._Ich glaube, er steht auf dich_," Greta flashed Mimi a devilish smile.

"Nein," Mimi shook her head.

"What are you guys saying now?" TK asked. He knew he was acting paranoid, but he had a strange feeling that they were talking about him.

"Nothing," Mimi said.

"Oh...well, are you guys ready for action?" TK asked.

"Ja!" Mimi said. "Hello, and welcome to Mimi's Cooking Show! I'm Mimi, and this is Greta!"

"Hallo!" Greta waved to the camera.

"In today's episode, we're gonna make Greta's famous apple strudel!" Mimi said.

"Nein, nein, nein! You can't give away my secret recipe!" Greta said.

"Don't worry, we'll just give them the basic ingredients, like the apples, flour, sugar, the usual!"

"Come help us out!" Greta waved TK over.

"Are you sure?" TK asked.

"Yeah! Now get over here," Mimi motioned him over.

"Okay," TK positioned his camera so that it could keep filming the view.

"Come on, TK. This strudel isn't going to make itself," Mimi bumped her hip against his.

"Right," TK said.

"Mimi?"

"Daddy!" Mimi rushed over to her father.

"Hi, Mr. Tachikawa," TK waved.

"Matt, you look different," Mr. Tachikawa slightly lowered his shades.

"No, Daddy. This is Matt's little brother, TK," Mimi corrected.

"Ah, good to see you boy," Mr. Tachikawa firmly gripped TK's hand and shook it.

"Same here," TK said.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you. Last time, you were this tall," Mr. Tachikawa lowered his hand knee-level.

"Daaaad, stop exaggerating," Mimi said.

"What are you guys up to?" Mr. Tachikawa asked.

"We're making strudel," Greta replied.

"Sounds like it's going to take a while," Mr. Tachikawa said.

"Yeah. I just put the strudel in the oven not too long ago," Greta said.

"How about we play a board game to pass the time? I know Mimi loves board games," Mr. Tachikawa suggested.

"Dad!" Mimi whined.

"I could never picture you as a board game lover," TK raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you have no idea! She's got a closet full of games!" Greta pointed to a door in the hallway.

"May I?" TK held on to the doorknob.

"Yeah, go ahead," Mimi sighed.

"Whoa!" TK gasped. There were a bunch game board boxes were stacked up on each other.

"Since you're a guest, why don't you pick the game?" Mr. Tachikawa said.

"Choose wisely...Mimi always wins. It would be nice to have someone besides her win," Greta said.

"Okay," TK nervously stared at the boxes of random games. "How about Apples to Apples?"

"Really? Someone really wants to get carried away with an Apple theme," Mimi smirked.

"Hey, hey. He's our guest, so don't be afraid of a little competition," Mr. Tachikawa looked at his daughter.

"Okay," Mimi pouted.

"Are you scared that I might beat you?" TK smirked.

"You wish! I already know I'm gonna win!" Mimi winked.

"Want to make it interesting?" TK grinned.

"Whoa, not too interesting!" Mr. Tachikawa said.

"Bring it," Mimi put her hands on her hips.

"How about the loser feeds the winner their apple strudel?" TK said.

"I like that idea!" Greta laughed.

"Mimi, get prepared to hold a spoon," Mr. Tachikawa said.

"I'm gonna prove all of you wrong!" Mimi said.

"Whoever gets the most green apples by the time the oven beeps wins?" Greta shrugged.

"I like that," TK nodded.

"Me too," Mimi said.

"It's on," Mr. Tachikawa set up the card game. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah," Mimi sat on the floor next to TK.

"Nuh uh, I'm sitting across from you," TK said.

"What? You think I'm gonna peek at your cards?" Mimi cooed.

"I don't trust you...," TK narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, since you're the guest, you pick the first green card," Mr. Tachikawa said.

"Sexy," TK put his green card down. He watched as everyone slid their red cards toward him. "Let's see...Tiger Woods...locker room...mortician? Those are all weird, but I'll have to go with Tiger Woods."

"Yes!" Greta clapped her hands.

"Come on! Locker room was a good one!" Mimi snapped.

"Yeah, but if I picked that one, your dad would probably kick my butt," TK said.

"You're a smart boy," Mr. Tachikawa nodded.

"My turn! Masculine!" Greta gleefully flipped a green card.

"I got this one in the bag," Mimi rubbed her hands.

"We have weddings...tree huggers...Judge Judy. I'm going with tree huggers, since I don't know who Judge Judy is."

"Darn it!" Mimi said.

"I see you had that in the bag. If it makes you feel better, I thought Judge Judy was a good one," TK smirked as he picked up his green card.

"Shut up," Mimi whined.

"Now, now. You don't see us getting upset when we lose, do you?" Mr. Tachikawa chuckled.

"No...," Mimi frowned.

"Obnoxious is the word," TK put his green card down.

"I totally have this," Mimi boasted.

"Hmmm...Beanie Babies, women, and musicals. Musicals it is!" TK said.

"Yes! My first card," Mr. Tachikawa beamed.

"I thought I'd get you with the women," Mimi snapped her fingers.

"Sorry," TK shrugged.

"Are you peeking at my cards?" Mimi pouted.

"How is that possible? I'm sitting across from you," TK said.

"I don't know!" Mimi whined.

"Is someone being a bad sport?" Greta poked Mimi's cheek.

"No," Mimi said.

"Don't worry. I'll get a large piece because I know how much you'll enjoy feeding me," TK smirked.

"Oh, aren't you considerate?" Mimi sarcastically said.

"It's so funny to see you like this," Greta giggled.

"I've got it all on camera too! I'll make you a DVD," TK said. His camcorder was carefully placed at an end table.

"What?! How long has that been there?!" Mimi shrieked.

"Since we all went to the living room," TK said.

"This is so embarrassing!" Mimi brought her knees to her chest.

"What? Greta's right. It's cute and fun to watch," TK shrugged.

"You guys are mean," Mimi said.

"Smile for the camera," Mr. Tachikawa teased. They kept on playing the card game until the oven beeped.

"I'm going to check the strudel," Greta sprung up from the floor and dashed to the kitchen.

"Well, well, well...," TK smirked. He had the most amount of green cards, and Mimi didn't have any at all.

"This is so unfair," Mimi said.

"I don't see why. You lost the game fair and square," Mr. Tachikawa smiled.

"Are you happy about that?" Mimi gasped.

"Yes. It's about time someone beat you," Mr. Tachikawa grinned.

"Here you go. You two can share," Greta handed Mimi a fork and a large piece of strudel.

"I like it when people do the airplane," TK smirked.

"Shut up and open wide," Mimi reluctantly fed TK a piece of strudel.

"Delicious," TK said. "More."

"Do you know how degrading this is?" Mimi whined.

"I've even through worse. Now feed me," TK said.

"Ugh," Mimi rolled her eyes.

"Good strudel," TK gave Greta a thumbs-up.

"Danke," Greta smiled.

"That means 'thank you'," Mimi translated.

"You already had your half, now it's my turn," Mimi hogged the dessert.

"That's okay. There's extra for you to take home if you want it," Greta said.

"That would be amazing," TK nodded.

"I'm beat. I had a long day," Mr. Tachikawa yawned.

"It's 1:30! I should get going!" TK checked his phone.

"Okay," Mimi whined.

"I'll walk you out," Mr. Tachikawa said.

"No, you don't have to. I know where the door is," TK said.

"No, I insist," Mr. Tachikawa sternly said.

"Okay," TK meekly said. It was no secret that Mr. Tachikawa could be tough towards boys, which made TK feel nervous. He wondered what he did to piss him off.

"Come with me," Mr. Tachikawa led TK into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" TK gulped.

"Nothing. I'd just like to thank you. I haven't seen my daughter this relaxed in a while," Mr. Tachikawa said.

"Uh, you're welcome?" TK timidly smiled.

"It really means a lot to me. She's been so uptight lately, and this is the first time I've seen her act normal," Mr. Tachikawa patted TK on the back.

"Really?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Mr. Tachikawa opened the door. "Have a good night."

"Thanks. You too," TK said and walked out of the apartment.

* * *

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Mom. Hi," TK stood by the door and took off his shoes.

"It's 2 o'clock in the morning! What was so important that you got home this late? Where the hell were you?" Ms. Takaishi ranted.

"I was at Mimi's," TK said.

"Mimi's? As in Matt's girlfriend, Mimi? That Mimi?" Ms. Takaishi interrogated.

"Yep, that one," TK replied.

"Hmm, okay. If that's what you say. Look, I never gave you a curfew, because honestly, I never thought you would stay out this long," Ms. Takaishi rubbed her forehead. "Just get to bed. I'll deal with you in the morning."

"Night, Mom," TK entered his room and placed his camera bag on his bureau. He was surprised at how much fun he had at Mimi's place.

Even though he left her penthouse fifteen minutes ago, he wished that the night wouldn't have ended so soon.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, and a really long and boring chapter. By the way, I just had to put in the nail polish scene. I was surprised that my guy friends didn't know about polish remover, so yeah... Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. Hopefully next chapter's better.**

**Also, it's going to take me a lot longer to update a lot of my stories. Stuff happens, iPhones get busted and Androids suck, so until I get a new iPhone, I won't be able to update as often as I want to :(**

**PS: Thanks to Mel for correcting my awful, awful German! Appreciate it :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Do or Die**

"How was Matt's concert? Sorry we had to miss it," Meg said.

"Nothing special. Just the same old stuff," Mimi shrugged.

"Huh? Are you okay?" Miki picked Mimi's chin up and lit her flashlight keychain in Mimi's eyes.

"Hey!" Mimi covered her face.

"Sorry," Miki clicked her flashlight off.

"Usually you're so excited about going to Matt's concerts, so what happened this time?" Meg frowned.

"The usual," Mimi said.

"What's wrong with that?" Miki looked puzzled.

"That's it. It's the same old, same old! I sit at a sticky chair while Matt plays the same couple of songs, then after the concert I hang out backstage with him, only for him to go out with his bandmates because he 'forgot' that we had plans afterwards," Mimi ranted.

"You finally realized that?" Miki opened up her milk carton.

"Give me some credit. I've realized it a long time ago," Mimi sighed.

"Then why don't you dump him already?" Meg asked.

"I don't know. Maybe things will change. I really do like him," Mimi sighed.

"Like?" Meg frowned.

"What?" Mimi asked.

"You're going through too much trouble for this guy if you only like him," Meg said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mimi glared at Meg.

"I'm just saying that he's not worth the aggravation if you don't even love him," Meg said.

"But I do," Mimi stated.

"No you don't. You like him. You didn't have to think twice about saying that. Chances are if you were gonna say you love him, you'd have to pause to come up with the right words. If you pay attention enough, you can see that people subconsciously say what they really feel. I believe that's called a Freudian Ship," Meg said.

"Go, Doctor Megumi. Where'd you get that info? Glamour Girl?" Miki smirked.

"Yeah...," Meg sighed.

"Whatever, those magazines are total garbage anyways," Mimi made a face.

"Don't you read it?" Miki asked.

"Well yeah. I just get a kick out of taking quizzes that say I'm gonna marry Justin Timberlake because I'm a Leo," Mimi scoffed.

"Hey! You never know! I could end up with Lebron James! Don't make fun of the Zodiac Matchmaker!" Meg crossed her arms.

"Maybe I should start reading this magazine," Miki tapped her nails on the table.

"Meg, I know you're just concerned about me, but I think I know more about love than that stupid magazine," Mimi said.

"Really?" Miki had a skeptical look on her face.

"Yes! I already have the guy of my dreams, and now I'm gonna help someone get the same happiness that I get when I'm with Matt," Mimi grinned.

"Who pissed you off that badly that you want to make them just as miserable as you?" Miki muttered.

"Shut up! I'm gonna prove it to you! I will match up the perfect couple! Let's go, girls!" Mimi got up from the lunch table and marched towards TK's table.

"Where are you going?" Meg asked.

"What are you doing?" Miki pressed her lips together.

"TK," Mimi tapped him on the shoulder.

"Mimi!" TK turned around.

"Me and you have plans right after school," Mimi said.

"But I have to work tonight. I'll be working until 7," TK said.

"That's fine. We'll make it another time," Mimi smiled and skipped away.

* * *

"I'm beat," TK fumbled with his keys. He returned from a long shift at work. He and Zoe had to keep running to the convenience store across the road from the mall, because the coffee shop ran out of coffee. TK wouldn't have minded if this was a rare occurrence, but it happened at least once a week. He found it ironic how the shop ended up serving another brand of coffee, because they always ran out of their own brand.

"It was about time you got home!"

"Gah! Mimi?! What are you doing here?" TK jumped.

"I told you that we had plans today," Mimi innocently smiled.

"But I thought you said we'd do them another time!" TK exclaimed.

"Yeah, and it is another time! You see, I wanted us to hang out right after school, but since you couldn't make it, I decided that we should do our plans right after work," Mimi beamed.

"You're really something else," TK gawked at the girl. It was a good thing he cleaned the house the night before.

"Hey, I think we should order something. There's like nothing in the fridge," Miki said from the kitchen.

"Miki?!" TK gasped.

"Oh, hey TJ," Miki said.

"TK," TK corrected.

"Sorry," Miki apologized. "So, what's up with your fridge? There's like nothing in it besides milk and two slices of bread."

"We're not home most of the time, so we usually eat take-out," TK blushed. He didn't want to admit that he barely had money to stock up the fridge.

"Oh, okay," Miki closed the fridge.

"Mmmm, I hope TK's mom doesn't mind that I used some of her perfume-"

"Meg?!" TK couldn't believe it.

"Hi!" Meg cheerfully waved.

"Alright, before I get a heart attack, is there anyone else in here?" TK asked the girls.

"Nope," they shook their heads.

"Where's my mom?" TK asked.

"We don't know," the girls said.

"Then how did you guys get inside?" TK raised an eyebrow.

"We broke in," Miki played with a misshapen paper clip.

"You did what?!" TK yelled.

"We were gonna go through your stuff, but I figured that we'd wait for you to come home first. It's the polite thing to do," Meg said.

"I didn't know there were etiquette rules when it comes to breaking into houses and snooping around," TK said.

"Wow. This needs some major fixing," Mimi walked into TK's closet and looked through his closet.

"Do you like to go fishing?" Miki asked.

"No. I don't even like to eat fish," TK said.

"Then why do your clothes look like they came from a fisherman's closet?" Meg asked.

"No, no, no. This all has to go!" Mimi started throwing clothes on the floor.

"Hey!" TK yelled.

"What? We're giving you a makeover. Kari's not going to notice you if you keep dressing like you came from a camping trip. Do you want the girl of your dreams or not?"

"Mimi!" TK turned red.

"Come on, we all know you like Kari," Miki casually looked at her nails.

"No, I don't," TK said.

"You don't have to lie. It's totally obvious," Meg sat on TK's bed.

"What?!" TK yelled.

"Yeah. Like 99% of the boys in the school like Kari. It's like statistically impossible to avoid. If you want her attention, you have to stand out," Meg said.

"Stand out in a good way. This is awful," Mimi rummaged through TK's dresser. "I'll leave this one alone," she closed TK's underwear drawer.

"Oh geez," TK bit his lip.

"Aha! I like this! You're wearing this tomorrow!" Mimi pulled out a white V-neck tee.

"Uh, it's just a plain t-shirt," TK said.

"So? Basics never go out of style, that's why they're basic! Of course, you need to get some fashionable stuff to go along with them. Only problem is that it's so hard to find anything to go with this. You need to find something that says 'This is me', something that isn't dorky though," Mimi tapped her chin.

"Hey, TK. Do you like to read? I can see you as a bookworm," Miki asked.

"Yeah. I read in my spare time," TK said.

"We should dress him as a hipster," Miki suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Mimi squealed.

"How about this?" Meg pulled a tweed vest out of the pile of clothes on the floor.

"Genius!" Mimi exclaimed.

"I never wore that thing," TK said.

"Well now you will. Now what kind of shoes do you have?" Mimi asked.

"Just my Toms," TK replied.

"Is that all?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah. They're the only pair of shoes I have," TK said.

"Hmm, that's gonna be a problem," Mimi said.

"I can't afford to buy any more shoes," TK said.

"That's okay. We can work with those for now," Mimi said.

"Um, I don't know...there's not much else we can do here," Meg wistfully looked at TK's clothes and put them in a trash bag.

"What are you doing?" TK shrieked.

"Dumping your crap," Miki said.

"But what am I going to wear?" TK asked.

"I already told you. That," Mimi pointed to the tee and vest on his bed.

"Then what about the next day?" TK crossed his arms.

"We're going shopping after school, so you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to work tomorrow, do you?" Mimi asked.

"Nope, I'm free but-"

"There's no buts about it! As soon as the final bell rings, we're gonna shove you into Miki's car!" Mimi declared. "Come on girls! Let's go!"

"Coming!" Meg picked up the trash bag and dashed out of the apartment.

"See ya tomorrow!" Miki said before she closed the door.

"Awesome...," TK groaned. He was ambushed by girls, who ended up stealing his clothes and planned on kidnapping him after school. If there were a goat and toilet paper involved, TK could have sworn he was going through a frat initiation.

* * *

"You know I don't have any money to go shopping, so this is pointless," TK said.

"Eh, don't worry about it! I got a promo gift card from Canadian Eagle. I wasn't gonna use it since I already bought enough stuff there," Miki wrapped her arms around TK's arm.

"And I have Khaki Cash," Meg held on to TK's other arm. It was Mimi's idea to make Meg and Miki restrain him, so he couldn't escape. Mimi could be so evil.

"Caca Cash?" Mimi made a face.

"Khah-key! As in Khaki Barn," Meg huffed.

"Oh," Mimi said.

"What's Khaki Cash?" TK asked.

"It's a coupon. For every $50 you spend, you get $20 off, so we can use that for your wardrobe budget!"

"You don't have to do that," TK said.

"Nonsense! Besides, I was planning to do some shopping there, so it's like your clothes are free! I might even be able to get the manager to give me a another discount. We used to be in the same Girl Scout troop," Meg excitedly said.

"Then let's get a move on!" Mimi said.

"Hey, welcome to the Khaki Barn," a blonde girl greeted.

"I haven't been here in a long time! Is it okay if I shop around?" Meg begged Mimi.

"Go ahead," Mimi shook her head. "Since Meg has the coupons, we might as well find something for you to get."

"How about these?" Miki picked up a pair of jeans.

"They're on sale too...," Mimi stared at the pile of jeans behind Miki.

"I think black jeans would look hot," Miki said.

"I like this shade too," Mimi picked up a pair of dark denim.

"These?" Miki held up a pair of faded jeans.

"No way! He has enough clothes that look worn out," Mimi said.

"Thanks," TK flatly said.

"No offense," Mimi coyly smiled.

"Hi, welcome to the Khaki Barn! My name's Kristen. If you guys need any help, let me know!" a blonde salesgirl said.

"Actually, we could use your help. We're shopping for our friend here and we could use some second opinions," Mimi said.

"I could totally help you! First of all, you can't go to the Khaki Barn without buying a pair of our classic-fit khakis!" the girl, Kristen, pulled out some khakis out of nowhere.

"Good idea," Miki said.

"Oh, and another best seller is our classic button-downs! We have white, black, several plaids, and some stripes," Kristen grabbed a bunch of shirts in different colors.

"I can't afford-"

"And if you're going for the layered look, we have a bunch of basic tees and cardis here!"

"Hey, we know what we're doing! We're discount queens," Mimi pinched the skin of TK's elbow.

"Wow, thanks for your help. Where are the dressing rooms?" Miki carried a mountain of clothes in her arms.

"Right there. Take the large one, you're gonna need it!" Kristen pointed to the back of the store.

"Thanks," Mimi smiled.

"It's do or die," Miki dropped the clothes in the dressing room.

"Okay, here's outfit number one, number two...seven," Mimi sorted the clothes together. "Alright, you're ready to go."

"Time to get naked, Teeks. Show us everything," Miki shoved TK into the dressing room.

"What?!" TK turned red.

"Show us every outfit, duh!" Mimi scoffed.

"Right," TK closed the door. Seconds later, he stepped out of the room.

"You look hot," Mimi said.

"Kari won't take her hands-I mean eyes off of you," Miki winked.

"You think?" TK excitedly said.

"Most definitely," Mimi grinned.

"You look totes hot," Meg said.

"Hey, Meg! Did you find anything?" Mimi asked.

"Just a few things. The girl at the register is holding them for me so I didn't have to carry them," Meg said.

"Alright, next outfit," Mimi motioned for TK to go back into the dressing room. He tried on several more outfits, which the girls all approved of.

"You really know how to piece things together, even when they're from stores you hate," Meg said.

"Well, TK looks cute in them," Mimi shrugged.

"Come tomorrow, Kari's gonna ask you to marry her," Miki winked.

"Let's ring these babies up!" Mimi held up a couple items of clothing and brought them to the register. A purple-haired punky girl sat on a stool and was flipping through a magazine.

"Ahem, hello," Miki cleared her throat.

"Hi," the girl said in a bored tone.

"Do you still have my clothes?" Meg asked.

"Oh yeah. Let me get them," the girl left her station and came back with a janitor cart filled with clothes.

"So you found a few things, huh?" Miki smirked at Meg.

"Just a little. Oh, and could you add these to the pile?" Meg handed TK's clothes to the girl.

"No problem," the girl threw them in the cart.

"Now we're ready to get rung up," Mimi said.

"Oh. I don't do that stuff. I'll get someone for you," the girl slowly trudged away.

"Hey guys, did anyone help you out today?" a girl with short, dark blonde hair walked up to the register.

"Hey Chrissy!" Meg squealed.

"Oh my gosh, Meg! Long time, no see!" the blonde girl shrieked.

"I know, right?! We like have to hang out!" Meg excitedly said.

"Totes! Okay, just give me your digits and we'll plan something! Now that summer is coming up, we should have plenty of time for fun! So, is all of that yours?" Chrissy said.

"Yep," Meg nodded.

"Hmm, your pile is smaller than usual," Chrissy said.

"She calls that small?" TK mouthed to Mimi and Miki. They nodded their heads.

"Yeah. I have so many clothes, so I'm trying to hold back," Meg said.

"You're doing a great job. I've seen you buy a lot more, so kudos to you. You have a stronger willpower than I do. Do you have any Khaki Cash with you?" Chrissy said.

"Right here!" Meg handed her a stack of coupons.

"Cool. Do you also have your rewards card?"

"Right here," Meg whipped out her card.

"Great. I'm also gonna give you my employee discount...your total balance is $649.67 and your total savings come up to $5,802.83," Chrissy said.

"What the fu...," TK fainted.

"Oh my gosh! Is he okay?!" Chrissy freaked out.

"Yeah! He's fine. He just experienced his first shopping high," Mimi cradled TK's head in her lap.

"Aww, this is totally going in my scrapbook," Meg took a picture of the unconscious TK.

"You seriously have a scrapbook?" Miki shot Meg a weird look.

"Well, yeah...doesn't everyone?" Meg pouted.

* * *

"Did you have fun today?" Mimi asked. She and TK stood in the living room of his apartment, surrounded by many shopping bags.

"Surprisingly, yes. I should be set for a whole year. If I need any more clothes, I'll just let you girls choose what I should wear," TK chuckled.

"We wouldn't have it any other way. If we find out you bought clothes without us, we're so going to hunt you down. I'm serious," Mimi teased.

"Okay, I wouldn't want you girls to get angry at me," TK said.

"Before I go, I got you something," Mimi held on to a shopping bag.

"No. I already feel bad. You guys already got me a whole wardrobe," TK said.

"You can thank the coupons for that," Mimi smirked.

"Meg sure knows how to get good deals," TK smiled.

"Anyways, these are an apology gift from me," Mimi held up a huge shopping bag.

"Apology for what? Kidnapping me today?" TK smirked.

"No. I was such a bitch to you, and I'm sorry. I got you a replacement pair of Toms, and some Sperrys. I hope you like them," she handed the bag to TK.

"I do. Thank you," TK said in amazement.

"I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow," Mimi smiled.

"Yeah," TK breathily said.

"Okay, bye...," Mimi started to walk away.

"Wait," TK grabbed her by the wrist.

"What is it?" Mimi asked.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything," TK hugged her.

"No problem. It's the least I could do," Mimi beamed.

"I missed you," TK said.

"What do you mean? We see each other all the time," Mimi gave TK a puzzled look.

"No, I missed you. The real you. Not the you who pretends to be perfect."

"Are you saying I'm not-"

"I miss the quirky, cute, fun Mimi," TK said before she could finish her sentence.

"Did you just say I was cute?" Mimi teased.

"Hey, I also said quirky!" TK defensively said.

"You think I'm cute," Mimi cooed.

"Come on, you know what I mean!" TK said.

"Yeah, I know...," Mimi said.

"Phew," TK quietly sighed.

"You think I'm cute!" Mimi grinned.

"D'oh!" TK said.

"I'm just kidding, I know what you mean. Besides, we wouldn't want Kari to think you're coming on to me. Then she'd never go out with you," Mimi stuck her tongue out.

"You brat," TK smirked.

"Brat is my middle name," Mimi said.

"Alright, I should get going before Miki loses her patience! See ya!" Mimi waved goodbye and left the apartment.

* * *

"You look nice," Zoe examined TK's outfit.

"I think you look like a jackass," Koji frowned.

"Takes one to know one! Who's up? Don't leave me hanging, guys!" Takuya held his hand up. Nobody gave him a high-five.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Kouichi asked TK.

"What do you mean?" TK asked.

"Hey TK," a couple of cheerleaders flirtatiously walked past him.

"That. Last week, they wouldn't get your name right, if they even bothered to say hi to you," Kouichi said.

"And they didn't say hi to you last week," JP noted.

"What's your point?" TK asked.

"Aren't you concerned that people are only paying attention to you just because you look cool now?" Kouichi said.

"I don't see a problem with that. I'm finally getting noticed in a good way. Yesterday was the first time I had hot girls all over me, and I'm not afraid to say that I liked the attention. I mean sure, it was just Mimi and her friends, and it was only a shopping trip, but still," TK said.

"Don't you want to be noticed for who you are on the inside, not your outward appearance?" Zoe poked at her hummus with a carrot.

"You sound like a mom. That's something a mom would say to her unattractive daughter who's staying home on prom night because she was so ugly that nobody asked her to prom, not even a blind guy," Koji sneered.

"You should know. After all, I'm just repeating what your mom told you when nobody wanted to go to prom with you," Zoe smirked.

"Ohhhh, burn!" Takuya held his palm up in the air. This time, JP, Kouichi, and even Zoe gave him a high-five.

"Hey!" Mimi walked over to the table.

"Hi," TK said.

"Come sit with us!" Meg pleaded.

"Uh," TK looked at his club members.

"Go ahead. We'll be fine," Takuya grinned.

"Are you sure?" TK asked.

"Yeah," Zoe sighed.

"The votes are in! You're coming with us!" Mimi pulled TK up from his seat. Miki picked up his lunch bag and they headed to the A-lister section of the cafeteria.

"Hey TJ! What's up?" Davis gave TK a friendly nudge.

"For one thing, my name's TK now," TK said. When they used to be close friends, Davis intentionally called him by the wrong initials when he was in a bad mood. This time, TK had a feeling that Davis genuinely forgot his name.

"Right, right! Never said I was good at spelling bees. Otherwise, I'd probably be sitting at that table," Davis subtly pointed to where the computer club sat.

"Don't you think that's a bit uncalled for?" TK asked.

"What? Spelling bees are dorky, the Computer Club is dorky, but I guess you're right. They're not nearly as dorky as the filmmaking geeks," Davis shrugged.

"I'm in the film-"

"NOM NOM NOM!"

"I gotta go! I think Chad's trying to take my pudding. Shows that you can't leave your food unintended. Nice talking to you, PJ!" Davis ran off to a table full of fellow jocks.

"Hey, what's up?" Tai patted TK on the shoulder. "Are you coming to my party? I just got my wisdom teeth pulled out, so I thought it would be a good reason to celebrate."

"You want me to go to your party?" TK asked, surprised.

"Yeah! I see Matt a lot, but it's so weird how I barely see you. I've tried to invite everyone in our old gang, but I don't think they're coming. I just wanted all of us to get together like the good old times, but hey, what can I do? The only people I've actually talked to is Matt, Sora, Mimi, and Davis. How about you?" Tai said.

"I've been talking to Mimi recently, but besides her, I haven't really kept in contact with anyone else," TK said.

"It's such a shame. I don't know what happened. We all used to be so close, you know?" Tai frowned.

"I understand what you mean," TK nodded.

"Well, I should leave you. Your girlfriends are waiting for you," Tai pointed at an impatient Mimi, Miki, and Meg. "You're coming to my party, right?"

"Yeah," TK said.

"Great! Can't wait to see you there," Tai patted TK on the back and walked off.

"Soooo, what were you two talking about?" Meg skipped over to TK.

"Tai just invited me to his party," TK said.

"You mean that stupid gathering for getting his wisdom teeth pulled?" Miki raised an eyebrow.

"What are you complaining about? We have to work that night, so we can't go anyways," Meg sighed.

"But we're definitely coming," Mimi grabbed TK's wrist.

"We are?" TK gasped.

"Yeah! TK and I will go together. Matt's going to show up early to help Tai set up for his party, and you know how I like to show up fashionably late. Besides, now that I'm going to meet up at your house, you can't weasel out, and you'll be forced to come! It would be the perfect opportunity for you to ask Kari to the Spring Fling!" Mimi squealed.

"What?! I'm not ready to do that! We barely talk to each other! I'll look like such a stalker!" TK stuttered.

"Just take baby steps," Meg said.

"Look, there she is! Go!" Mimi pointed at Kari.

"I-" TK froze.

"I'll help you out," Miki shoved TK.

"Whoa!" TK stumbled and grabbed on to the first thing he could reach, which unfortunately happened to be Kari's chest.

"Ahhhh!" Kari gasped.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-I tripped and- oh my god, I'm a creeper," TK turned red.

"I should be a matchmaker! I already got TK to second base without him having to do anything. A push in the right direction can really do a lot," Miki smirked.

"You mean like that?" Meg cocked her head to the side. The girls winced as they saw Kari slap TK in the face.

"Wow, talk about the slap heard round the world," Miki muttered.

"Miki! Thanks to you, TK lost his shot at Kari," Mimi whined.

"Doesn't look like that to me," Meg said. Kari put her hand on TK's shoulder and laughed.

"That was a close one," Mimi frowned. For some weird reason, she was annoyed at how TK and Kari were getting chummy with each other. Maybe Miki was right. Maybe Mimi subconsciously wanted to sabotage TK, so that he could be just as miserable as she was. No, she would never do that to him. For one thing, she wasn't miserable, no matter what Miki or Meg said.

"Hello, earth to Mimi...," Miki waved her hand in front of Mimi's face.

"Huh? What? I wasn't paying attention," Mimi snapped out of her state of mind.

"Obviously," Miki scoffed.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," TK said.

"Yeah...I'm thinking about what I should wear to Tai's party," Mimi fibbed.

"Whatever it is, you're gonna look fabulous," Meg said.

"Yeah. Don't stress too much about it. It's a wisdom tooth party for crying out loud," Miki scoffed.

"I guess you're right," Mimi frowned. "So, TK. How did it go with Kari?"

"I got her number," TK held up a slip of paper.

"How'd you manage to do that?" Mimi asked.

"He was just going to tell us until we noticed that you were spacing out," Meg said.

"After I accidentally fell on her, thanks to Miki-"

"There are no such things as accidents. They're just happy mistakes! It's true, I bet your hands were happy," Miki grinned.

"Why don't I just finish my story?" TK turned red.

"Did you ask her out?" Meg looked hopeful.

"I did, but it didn't work out too well," TK said.

"Really?" Mimi squeaked. She quickly cleared her throat. "Sorry, I guess I had air going through the wrong pipe."

"How did you screw this up?" Miki turned back to TK.

"I asked her to Tai's party...I forgot that she was going to be there already...," TK sheepishly said.

"You were supposed to ask her to the Spring Fling! Not her brother's party!" Meg moaned.

"That's okay. He can always ask her at the party," Mimi said.

"Very true," Miki nodded.

"Now I think you're ready to go to charm school!" Mimi declared.

"Charm school?" TK made a face.

"You definitely need it," Meg said.

"Yeah, don't want to screw things up with Kari," Miki smirked.

"Thanks...," TK frowned.

"Don't worry, you're in good hands now!" Mimi said.

"Somehow that's not reassuring to me...," TK gulped.


End file.
